Tag Archives: Nissan

Get dirty with a LEAF car, the world’s cleanest car (according to Nissan)

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In a bid to advertise and create excitement about a self-cleaning version of Nissan’s zero-emissions LEAF car, the company kicked off a contest a few days ago with this video,


A Dec. 3, 2014 news item on Azonano describes the car and the campaign,

The “world’s cleanest car” is daring its fans to get it dirty. Starting today, Nissan will launch a social media campaign that will include a series of online videos to showcase a zero-emissions Nissan LEAF with self-cleaning nano-paint technology. Created to demonstrate its potential use in future production vehicles, this LEAF is armed with Ultra-Ever Dry® paint to help repel almost any liquid that may come its way. Nissan first introduced the one-of-a-kind LEAF this past April [2014].

“The LEAF is already one of the cleanest vehicles around even without this incredibly innovative paint technology; that said, we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty to take this to the next level,” said Pierre Loing, vice president, Product Planning, Nissan North America, Inc. “Getting fans involved via this social media campaign is a fun, creative way to show how the LEAF can stay clean no matter how dirty the world around it may be. A marriage with the Ultra-Ever Dry® exterior coating truly puts this LEAF in a league of its own, and we’re excited to see where this technology can take us.”

A Dec. 2, 2014 news item on Yahoo News provides details about the campaign to ‘dirty up the LEAF’,

First in the series of planned activations, “The Nissan Paint Prank” will launch on YouTube today [Dec. 2, 2014]. A “Three Stooges” style calamity, the video catches expressions of innocent bystanders shocked to see what happens as a crew of painters “accidentally” spills buckets of paint on the Nissan LEAF. As bystanders are playfully made aware of the prank, viewers online will be encouraged to visit Nissan’s Instagram channel to participate in a related series of videos, which also launch today.

First up on Instagram, “Guess the Mess” challenges fans to guess the liquid being poured on the self-cleaning LEAF. After guessing the mess, it’s the fans’ turn to decide what gets poured on the LEAF in the final set of videos entitled “Will it Stick?” Fans will be called upon on Instagram to suggest things they’d like to see dumped on the LEAF – ketchup, honey, eggs… anything is in play. Starting next week, Nissan will decide “if it sticks” by sharing videos on Instagram that will include the liquids suggested by selected fans. To encourage suggestions for liquids to pour on the LEAF from Instagram users, all participants will be entered for a chance to win a gift card toward a car wash.

To conclude the series, a compilation video featuring all “Guess the Mess” and “Will It Stick?” videos will be posted to Nissan’s YouTube channel and shared across Nissan’s social media platforms. Social media users can follow along on Instagram using #WorldsCleanestCar.

While there are currently no plans for this unique paint coating technology to be applied to Nissan vehicles as standard equipment, Nissan continues to consider the technology as a future aftermarket option.

Well, self-cleaning is always very appealing feature for me but I wonder if there are enthusiasts out there who take satisfaction in cleaning their cars and might mourn the loss of satisfaction?

Cars that read minds?

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Today’s blogging seems to have acquired a transportation theme. Here’s another item about a car, this one can read minds. From the Sept. 28, 2011 news item on physorg.com,

In the future, thinking about turning left may no longer be just a thought. Japanese auto giant Nissan and a Swiss university are developing cars that scan the driver’s thoughts and prepares the vehicle for the next move.

I found more information at the Nissan website in their Sept.28, 2011 news release,

As the driver thinks about turning left ahead, for example, so the car will prepare itself for the manoeuvre, selecting the correct speed and road positioning, before completing the turn. The aim? To ensure that our roads are as safe as possible and that the freedom that comes with personal mobility remains at the heart of society.

Nissan is undertaking this pioneering work in collaboration with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL). Far reaching research on Brain Machine Interface (BMI) systems by scientists at EPFL already allows disabled users to manoeuvre their wheelchairs by thought transference alone. The next stage is to adapt the BMI processes to the car – and driver – of the future.

Professor José del R. Millán, leading the project, said: “The idea is to blend driver and vehicle intelligence together in such a way that eliminates conflicts between them, leading to a safer motoring environment.”

…

Using brain activity measurement, eye movement patterns and by scanning the environment around the car in conjunction with the car’s own sensors, it should be possible to predict what the driver plans to do – be it a turn, an overtake, a lane change – and then assist with the manoeuvre in complete safety, thus improving the driving experience.

Here’s an image of some of the lab work being performed,

Nissan Brain-Computer Interface. Photo Credit: EPFL / Alain Herzog

I wonder what it’s going to look like when it’s ready for testing with real people. I’m pretty sure most people are not going to be interested in wearing head caps for very long. I imagine the researchers have come to this conclusion too, which means that they are likely considering some very sophisticated sensors. (I hope so, otherwise the researchers are somewhat delusional.  Sadly, this can be true. I speak from experiences dealing with technical experts who seemed to be designing their software for failure, i.e. the average person using would be likely to make an error.)

Is self-healing paint nanotech-enabled?; intellectual property in science fiction and in science; global nanotech regulation database

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Ariel Schwartz has a news item on Fast Company about Japanese cell phones and self-healing paint. It seems to me that this is likely nanotech-enabled technology and an example of how we are more and more able to exploit the properties of matter at the nano scale. But, I couldn’t find any information to confirm my suspicion. More about the paint from the news item,

Nissan recently licensed its Scratch Shield paint, which is scratch resistant and even repairs fine scratches, to Japanese cell phone company NTT DoCoMo. The paint has been used on select Nissan and Infiniti cars worldwide since 1995, but this is the first time it will be used outside of the vehicle market. Unlike the vehicle paint, cell-phone scratch-proof paint will only be available in Japan for now. But considering the wear and tear that most cell phones see, demand for the product will almost certainly expand to a worldwide market.

I did check out the Nissan website which offers a few more pictures than the news item does but not much more information.

I occasionally mention intellectual property (IP) as the current turmoil over copyrights, patents, and trademarks have an impact on writing. It’s with some dismay that I found an item on Techdirt about a science fiction movie that’s being sued for patent infringement. Yes, a fictional device has been patented. Given that lots of items that we take for granted, cell phones/mobiles for example, are based on devices found in fiction first, this lawsuit does not bode well. Coincidentally (on the same day), I saw another item onTechdirt, Yet Another Nobel Prize Winner Says That Intellectual Property Law Is Harming Science. From the item,

For science to continue to flourish, it is necessary that the knowledge it generates be made freely and widely available. IP rights have the tendency to stifle access to knowledge and the free exchange of ideas that is essential to science. So, far from stimulating innovation and the dissemination of the benefits of science, IP all too often hampers scientific progress and restricts access to its products.

If this issue interests you, the item on Techdirt offers more links. Btw, the scientist speaking out is Sir John Sulston (a prize-winning biologist).

Thoughts of intellectual property led me to thoughts about lawyers, which is why the news item on Nanowerk about a global nanotechnology regulation database caught my eye.  From the news item,

A global database of government documents on nanotechnology is being launched by three law professors at Arizona State University who, with their colleagues in Australia and Belgium, have corralled and organized a massive number of regulatory documents dealing with the rapidly advancing technology. The Nanotech Regulatory Document Archive is a free resource built and maintained by the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Over the past year, Gary Marchant, the center’s executive director, and center Faculty Fellows Douglas Sylvester and Kenneth Abbott, developed the database as part of a multiyear grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genomic Science Program.

I am intrigued to see that the project is being funded though a sort of genome programme being run by the US Dept. of Energy. I find this to be an unusual conflation but I suspect that’s largely due to my ignorance. I’ve certainly noticed the talk about bio-nano so a genome project being run by an energy department is not entirely out of the question but it hints at the idea that the gap between living and nonliving is being bridged. More about that when I’ve had time to think about it.

Idle thought: I wonder how long this free tool will remain free.