The car manufacturer Nissan was already thinking about what the car of tomorrow would be 41 years ago. With his concept of the NRV-II, it is clear that he had anticipated quite well what we would see on today’s vehicles.
Try to imagine what cars will look like around 2060. You probably think that they will have lines that would seem unusual to us today, a bit like those of the Cupra Dark Rebel or the Apple Car which will never see the light of day . In terms of functionalities, how can you not think thatthey will all fly, which could happen much sooner than we think. For the rest, apart from the possible use of non-polluting fuel, the cars of the future will surely be quite similar to those of today.
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Imagine that the Japanese manufacturer Nissan he was already projecting himself into 1983, at a time when almost everything remained to be done in terms of automotive innovations. That year, he unveiled a concept he called NVR-II. We can only see how visionary the firm was since apart from its design very anchored in the 80s, the majority of new integrated features exist in our modern carseven if the form has changed.
More than 40 years ago, Nissan imagined the car of tomorrow and the manufacturer was right
What do we find on this Nissan NVR-II ? Outside: headlights that turn on and off depending on the outside light, then windshield wipers that activate alone when it rains. But it’s mostly inside that it happens. The car has a voice recognition system allowing you to give him instructions, the microphone being hidden in front of the rearview mirror.
As can be seen in the photo below, a screen located behind the steering wheel displays the distance that separates us from the vehicle in front of uswarns when you are too close and slows down the car to get us back to safety. All this is managed by a radar at the front, under the hood.
In the absence of a speed limiter resembling those of today, it is still possible to define the one we do not want to exceed. The car’s voice alerts us if this is the case. Finally, let’s not miss theancestor of GPSwhich didn’t exist in 83. Here you use the commands and thetouch screen to point where you want to go, then you answer the car’s questions to set the route in advance. She tells you if you deviate. Rudimentary and impractical, certainly, but it’s a first for the 80s. However, Nissan hasn’t guessed everything and some innovations of the NVR-II were never widespread.
Today’s cars have many of the features Nissan imagined in the 1980s, but not all
You can’t see it with the naked eye, but the windows of the NVR-II are made of scratch-resistant plastic. The firm believed that this material could replace glass in the future. Ironically, it was precisely in 1983 that windshields change from glass to laminated glassmore secure and more resistant to impacts.
But the biggest difference between this car and ours is in the engine. That of the Nissan concept is a 1.3 liters 118 horsepower running on methanol. A rather impressive power for the time, far from what we find today that said.
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The Japanese motorist still impresses with the relevance of the features he imagined 41 years ago, now standard in our modern cars. The video presentation of the Nissan NVR-II by an Australian journalist is available just below. Don’t hesitate to take a look, it’s well worth the detour.