Thanks to Nissan’s Biomimetic Robot Car (BR23C), crash test dummies could find themselves out of a job. Having been compared to R2-D2 (but bearing no resemblance whatsoever), the BR23C will not maintain your car like a mechanic would, rather, it will play the part of backseat driver. The robot is the “poster-bot” for Nissan’s new crash prevention technology.

Drawing upon inspiration from bees in nature, the BR23C uses a laser range finder sensor to detect obstacles within a 180-degree radius and forwards that information to itself giving it plenty of time to prevent head-on collisions. Nissan was thinking that the best way to prevent crashes is to avoid obstacles altogether. Brilliant. Check out the video to see the robot avoid women.

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There sure is a lot of car-related news today. Anyways, despite the automotive glut this story was too cool to pass up. Nissan’s futuristic Pivo 2, a “robot assisted” car that lets you drive backwards and even sideways will hit the road in Portugal in 2011. Sideways driving ability and robotic car controls aren’t the only futuristic feature on the Pivo 2, the cars are also equipped with “green” electric engines. Portugese Prime Minister Jose Socrates announced on Wednesday that his country will begin building a national network of electric car charging centers so that Nissan and Renault can start selling the Pivo 2 there in two and-a-half years. It becomes available worldwide in 2012.

The Pivo 2 has four engines, pivoting wheels, and a rotating cabin so you can face front while driving in multiple directions. This unique design helps people to avoid tight parallel parking jobs forever.

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When car companies do crash tests to test safety, they use test dummies. But what about testing automobiles for senior citizens? Nissan engineers have created a special suit which helps simulate movements of the elderly, which would help the company better optimize their cars for geezers.

The complete suit uses several techniques to create worsened vision and decreased physical movement. Luckily, the suit won’t make your bladder the size of a pea, or give you urges to attend bingo night. — Andrew Dobrow

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Sony has developed a CMOS camera to be integrated into the Nissan “around view monitor”, which displays an overhead view of a vehicle with four cameras video system. The 23.4 × 23.4 × 21.7mm camera will offer 1.3 MP, 30 frame rate per second, with a 186.2° view in a horizontal direction and 147° in a vertical direction. We guess for keeping a REALLY close look on your car.

So few CMOS cameras have been made for cars because of their poor performance compared to that of CCD’s. And while Sony didn’t release any official performance info, they did say “of course, it reached the required level for vehicles.” — Andrew Dobrow

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If you’ve been looking for a transport headquarters for your company, you’ve come to the right place. The Nissan NV200 concept car is a mobile transport vehicle for packing along an entire workstation with this rolling job site.

While the boxy van design won’t do much for the eye, what matters lies on the inside of the vehicle. A complete, pull out storage center / organizer / office, perfect for the entrepreneur on the go. — Andrew Dobrow

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