Nissan BR23C robot car: Japanese bee craziness

With the admirable goal of cutting accident rates in half by 2015, Nissan released details of an accident-avoiding robot car, the BR23C. This moniker somehow stands for Biomimetic Car Robot Drive. Nissan patterned the robot's behaviour after bees, which apparently don't have accidents. Bees, apparently, maintain an oval-shaped personal space, using eyes that can see 300 degrees around them.

The BR23C uses laser range finders to stake out the front of the car, with a distance of about six feet. Where a bee will change direction if an obstacle enters its safety zone, the BR23C will likewise react by turning its wheels at a 90-degree angle or greater, sending it in another direction.

Nissan engineers describe the programming of the BR23C as instinctual, not requiring heavy processing power or maintaining a history of where the car has previously travelled. We're not sure if these engineers have ever seen a Roomba, but it sounds kind of similar. Also, with only a 6-foot detection range, we assume the BR23C isn't going to be barrelling along at 80 mph.

Nissan describes the avoidance technology used by this robot as the final layer in a series of safety technologies that will be part of cars we'll get to drive one day. -Wayne Cunningham