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New Anti Drunk-Driving Car - Nissan technology
By: Stefan Anitei, Science Editor - Softpedia


Like always on Saturday night, you're dead drunk and since you’re such a brave person, you will prove that you can drive home safely on your own (by the way, who would dare try to face your punches and curses just to grab your keys?).

Well, Nissan has found a solution to your problem now. If not for the sake of the others’ safety, at least at for the sake of you keeping your driving license. An array of technologies will detect a driver's state of sobriety. They gauge alcohol expelled by the body and a driver's level of drowsiness, assessing driving behavior for signs of inattentiveness. The Nissan Fuga (Infiniti M45) model will incorporate such capabilities.

If the driver is detected as drunk, the system activates a set of preventive measures including the immobilization of the vehicle.

The system contains:

1. A hi-sensitivity alcohol odor sensor incorporated into the transmission shift knob, which can track down the presence of alcohol in the perspiration of the driver's palm as he/she tries to start driving. When the alcohol-amount detected bypasses a threshold, the system automatically blocks the transmission, immobilizing the car. A "drunk driving" voice alert is turned on through the car navigation system.

2. Other alcohol odor sensors are located into the driver's and passenger seats, assessing the alcohol vapors in the air inside the vehicle cabin. When alcohol is found, the system turns on a voice alert and a message alert on the navigation system monitor.

3. A camera fixed on the instrument cluster facing the driver supervises the driver's face, assessing his/her state of consciousness based on the blinking. When signs of drowsiness are detected, the voice and message alert are activated. Moreover, a seat-belt mechanism tightens around the driver to gain his/her immediate attention.

4. Constant monitoring of the driving behavior (sensing if the vehicle is veering out of its driving lane), the system detects signs of inattentiveness in the driver. In the case of such behavior, voice, message and seat-belt alert mechanism are activated.

Nissan has already developed some initiatives for the prevention of drunk driving, like the introduction in June of its "drunk driving" message alert on its navigation system. In July, the company started to test a new on-board breathalyzer system, which immobilizes the car if the driver's breath shows the presence of alcohol over a specified threshold.

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