Nissan develops Slip Alert to warn drivers of bad road conditions
Nissan's JDM customers will now be able to benefit when some other poor schmo skids a Teana into a ditch. The CARWINGS telematics system has a new application bent on safety called Slip Alert. Slip Alert combines real-time images from cameras set up in Hokkaido to monitor conditions in dangerous areas, data on ABS and traction control usage from other Nissans carrying CARWINGS, and statistics from years gone by in an attempt to keep drivers from wrecking. When cruising along in treacherous going, the navigation system will keep the driver informed with a voice admonishment and an on-screen graphic. Nissan says the system indeed works, but it's not headed for the United States any time soon, so we'll still be able to spot rolled Armadas and stuffed Maximas this winter.
[Source: Wired]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Noah 9:59AM (10/24/2008)
Yet another electronic aid, instead of actual driver training.
Could be fun to abuse, though -- do a couple of powerslides or pendulum turns on a dry road, and everyone else driving on the same road for the next few hours will be electronically nagged to slow down because of the 'slippery conditions'.
The day I can't turn these 'aids' off is the day I stop buying new cars.
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Lar 5:47PM (10/24/2008)
"Yet another electronic aid, instead of actual driver training."
+1 Noah
A.N.E. 10:14AM (10/24/2008)
In New York City, the machine should warn you of good road conditions. Otherwise, New Yorkers will just turn the damn thing off.
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Assass1n 10:16AM (10/24/2008)
Whatever happened to using common sense? If the roads look wet, they might be slippery; and if its below freezing, they might be icy. It would be a cold day in hell when I need a computer to tell me that the roads are slippery.
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Tedcorp 10:43AM (10/24/2008)
What a novel concept.
How about this?
A weather rock attached to the hood of your car:
- rock is wet = road might be wet; hydroplaning a possibility
- rock is white = road might be white too; watch for piles of white, drifting white or hard white
- rock is moving back and forth = crosswinds possible
- too dark to see rock = turn lights on as other things may be hard to see in the dark too
I'm gonna sell millions of these things.
ejnmn 10:57AM (10/24/2008)
You can apply this concept to a lot of other interesting "events", if you figure out how to build the triggers, or allow a car or a driver to input them. For instance... Accident ahead... herd of elk crossing the road... speed trap??
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