Nissan Combating Impaired Driving…by Measuring Sweat!

Recent research has shown that driving while dehydrated can cause driver impairment similar to consuming alcohol.  As drivers become dehydrated, their ability to perceive their environment and make good decisions becomes impaired.

Nissan is working to prevent driver dehydration by alerting drivers when they don’t have enough water in their bodies to drive safely.  Working with Dutch company Droog, Nissan has created a sensor that measures a driver’s body sweat and computes whether the driver is dangerously dehydrated.

Both the steering wheel and driver’s seat are covered with a special cloth that responds to sweat.  It also changes color – it turns yellow if you’re dehydrated, and blue after rehydrating.

While it’s unclear whether Nissan will ever offer this option to the public, it’s also unclear what public interest in such a feature would be.

Oh, and watch out for that rental car with a yellow seat – you might want to ask for a different vehicle…

More information:

https://www.autoblog.com/2017/09/29/nissan-creates-sweat-sensing-seats-and-steering-wheel-to-detect/

*Video source: http://paulienrouts.com