Pedestrians top Nissan safety

The Japanese manufacturer is currently conducting research on pedestrian-related communication that will transmit the positioning of pedestrians via a car's GPS.

Nissan's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will use the next 3G cellular communication system that uses GPS as the basis for providing location information.

With this system, data is transmitted from the pedestrian's cell phone to the vehicle, where the ITS determines the pedestrian's and vehicle's corresponding positions.

A pedestrian alert will appear on the vehicle's information screen to warn the driver of a potential collision. Various driver alerts, such as visual warnings and audible signals, are being studied.

The current programme is aimed at developing systems to help reduce traffic accidents and congestion using real-time data collected from vehicles. Nissan's ITS project allows the manufacturer to test various concepts to develop the most suitable solution for widespread use.