Beer-breaths beware. A new concept car with breathalyzer-like detection systems may provide even greater traction for Japanese efforts to keep impaired drivers off the road.
Nissan’s alcohol-detection sensors check odor, sweat and driver awareness, issuing a voice alert from the navigation system and locking up the ignition if necessary.
Odor sensors on the driver and passenger seats read alcohol levels, while a detector in the gear-shift knob measures the perspiration of the driver’s palm when starting the car.
Other carmakers with detection systems include Sweden’s Volvo, which has developed technology in which drivers blow into a measuring unit in the seat belt before an engine can start.
But Nissan’s car includes a mounted camera that monitors alertness by eye scan, ringing bells and issuing a voice message in Japanese or English if a driver should pull over and rest.
Photo by ra-se-n.
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