Nissan Motor Company in Japan has introduced a technology that combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car's speed and its distance from a vehicle in front. In addition, some Nissan cars will eventually come with a gas pedal that lifts to warn of possible collisions and automatically stops if drivers take their foot off the accelerator.

Nissan's Senior Manager in Japan, Yousuka Akatsu said that the ultimate goal of this technology is to create a car that is intelligent enough to judge the road conditions without any help from its human driver. As soon as the driver lifts his/her foot from the gas pedal, the car automatically stops.

Nissan also showed a system that determines blood alcohol levels in a driver's sweat just by various sensors in the gearshift. If a person has a dangerous amount of blood alcohol levels, the car automatically warns the driver that he/she is unfit to drive. Moreover, the car can also recognize if a driver is sleepy, drunk, or drowsy with the help of its monitoring device. Another feature that is currently being used is the "lane departure prevention" technology which swivels a car back into its lane if it swerves off.

Nissan's new technology up close.

Finally, Nissan also demonstrated a dummy crash test to show its new bumper sensors that release a hinge to lift the engine hood slightly and soften the impact if a pedestrian is hit. Raising the hood on impact helps absorb the shock and reduces the potential injury to a pedestrian.

See: www.nissan.com.au