Taking the Wheel of Intelligent Transport

OPPAMA, Japan  – Nissan's test track south of its Yokohama headquarters is home to some of the latest advanced technology - the kind of things that could be in your next car.

One of the devices is fitted to this car, no ordinary Nissan LEAF, in which the car actually steers itself to avoid knocking over pedestrians.

Yoji Seto is from Nissan's Intelligent Transportation Systems Development Department.

"The sensors installed on this car detected that a pedestrian jumped out. And at the same time detected a safe escape zone," he said. "The steering wheel automatically turned to avoid the collision."

It's not just about making cars safer, but also improving driving pleasure. This is the Infiniti G37S and it's also  going to face special test conditions. The challenge for engineers has long been how to get the right kind of direct feel in the steering so the driver feels involved with hustling the car along. In most cars if you go over bumps such as manholes you will feel a lot of juddering in the steering wheel, but not this one, as the steering is electronic.

There's no mechanical link most of the time between the steering and the wheels, so even if you go over really big bumps, there's no judder at all.

Still, the steering is very direct and this next-generation steering could be available as early as next year.

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