Tokyo 2011: Nissan Pivo 3 Concept Looks Like a Computer Mouse

The upcoming Tokyo auto show will host Nissan’s wacky all-electric Pivo 3 concept, which follows Pivo concepts 1 and 2 as Tokyo debutants. But unlike its forebears, this latest Pivo looks almost normal. (Well, as normal as a wheeled computer mouse can, anyway. Don’t you just want to pick it up and click the windshield?) Pivos 1 and 2 looked like rolling crustaceans and featured passenger “bubbles” that could rotate 360 degrees relative to their sled-like chassis. Pivo 2 added the ability to “crab-walk” sideways into parking spaces and to verbally interact with the driver. The Pivo 3 may not push as many envelopes—being that it can’t crab walk and lacks a hamster-ball passenger cell—but it still packs several tricks up its sleeves.

First off, the Nissan can roll those sleeves back: Its two doors slide open like a minivan’s to facilitate ingress and egress in narrow parking spaces. The doors open to a futuristic cabin that seats three. The driver’s chair is forward and to the center, and it’s flanked by the two passenger seats. The doors aren’t the Pivo 3’s only parking aids; the car is equipped with a flotilla of electronics and gizmos designed to make it a parking-lot champ. The little EV uses in-wheel electric motors and rear-wheel steering, which allow it to have an extremely tight turning radius. Nissan claims the roughly 10-foot-long Pivo 3 can pull off a U-turn on a road that’s just 13 feet wide.

Finally, drivers can activate the Pivo 3’s “Automatic Valet Parking” system and send the car off on its own to find a parking space. The 3 will return to the parking lot’s exit to meet its driver when summoned via smartphone. The catch is that this can only happen in AVP-friendly parking lots of the future, so don’t expect this to happen anytime soon. Like the two previous Pivos, this one is more fantasy than anything else, but its always fun to dream—and there’s no better place to showcase sky-high pie than in Tokyo.

Tags: 2011 Tokyo auto show, Nissan, Nissan PIVO 3 concept |

Posted in: Computer,Concept,Looks,Mouse,Nissan,Tokyo