Nissan, the Japanese automobile manufacturer is working on completely distraction free driving experience. But, this time it seems like the automaker has gone too far to eliminate distraction while driving.
In its latest concept named as ‘Signal Shield,’ the company is relying on the Faraday cage principle, which was designed way back in 1830. The Faraday cage essentially uses conductive materials that block electromagnetic fields. The cage has been installed in the center console of a Nissan Juke, and as expected it blocks all the communication, which include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and regular telephone signal.
So, this concept works well in terms of preventing distracted driving, which results in many fatalities across the globe. The risk is so high in distracted driving, that recently the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has started using DSLR cameras with 50mm lenses to spot distracted drivers.
The concept although is not great when it comes to receiving important phone calls, as it blocks every kind of signals. So if you need to make a quick call, then you have to stop and open the center console, which will eventually restore all the communications. However, if you’d like to listen to music that is locally stored on your phone, then we have a good news for you as all the wired connections will work, even if your phone is inside the shield. But if you want to stream your favorite music then you will have to open the center console.
For now, this is completely a concept, which needs more refinement, development, and changes, but it’s quite interesting. Manufacturers are working on distraction free driving experience for quite some time now and all those technologies never weiled the device. That being said, if this concept comes into reality and prevents even a single death caused by distracted driving, then it would be a great step towards distraction free driving experience.