Safety first at Nissan

TOKYO: Nissan is taking its safety consciousness one step further.

It has just released an outline of its plan to develop an advanced safety vehicle system by 2000.

This system will have an emphasis on technologies to most effectively warn drivers against danger.

Under the plan, Nissan will promote "human interface" studies such as the optimum timing and volume of warning signals to beep when a sensor recognizes a driver dozing at the wheel.

Nissan will also carry out studies in five other areas, among them the development of systems to permit fully automated driving and an automatic steering function that would activate when a driver accidentally drove off the road.