Nissan Pivo Concept

Exterior: a pivoting cabin

Pivo Concept headlight detail

Thanks to the multiple drive-by-wire technology, Nisan eliminated the need for mechanical links between cabin and chassis and enabled designers to create the unique pivoting passenger compartment (hence the name “Pivo”), that gives the driver the ability to park while always looking forward.

Because the platform has a longitudinally symmetrical design, the driver’s perception of the car’s corners does not change even when the cabin is rotated through 180 degrees.

In addition to this, the drive-by-wire systems can help reduce the vehicle weight and the number of mechanical parts, by replacing mechanical linkages with electronic signals.

Interior

Despite an overall length of just 2,700 mm (slighlty larger than a Smart Fortwo), the PIVO seats three passengers comfortably. The driver sits front and centre while two passengers sit side-by-side in the rear. Tall, electrically-powered sliding doors make it easy to get in and out.

The visibility is enhanced by see-through pillars and Nissan’s Around View technology, an integrated system made of different cameras which generates a 360-degree view of the car’s surroundings on a dashboard monitor. An innovative image processing technique synthesises these images into a single bird’s-eye view.

A dash-mounted infrared (IR) commander allows drivers to operate the navigation system and audio system without taking an eye off the road or fumbling around for controls. It’s a new type of human-machine interface (HMI) that uses an infrared camera and Nissan’s ‘Magic 4’ concept.

You simply point fingers at the infrared commander to choose from any of four items on a menu. If you want item number three, hold up three fingers. Or, for example, if you want the music louder, just motion upwards with your hand.

The Nissan’s Horizontal Display system provides information along the bottom of the windscreen, displayed in the manner of movie subtitles. This innovative display system supports Nissan’s future telematics interface concept. For example, in ‘City Browsing mode,’ the system can display information transmitted live from nearby locations in a label-like form.

Propulsion

PIVO is powered by a zero emission system made by a high-performance Compact Lithium-ion Battery and Nissan’s unique Super Motor. The electric powertrain enables a highly compact body.

The Compact Lithium-ion Battery is flat and requires much less space than conventional cylindrical cells. Additional space and weight savings are achieved by adopting two motors (one for each axle) instead of four, thanks to Nissan’s Super Motor technology, that enables to deliver different powers to two shafts.

(Source: Nissan)