Nissan’s 19th-Century Tech Fights Distracted Driving

Nissan is using technology older than the motor vehicle in the U.K. to create a concept solution for reducing smartphone distraction at the wheel.

The Nissan Signal Shield is a prototype compartment within the armrest of a Nissan Juke that is lined with a Faraday cage, an invention dating back to the 1830s.

The Faraday cage is made of a conductive material, such as wire mesh, which blocks electromagnetic fields. It is named after its inventor, the pioneering English scientist Michael Faraday.

When an electronic device such as a smartphone, is placed inside, any incoming electromagnetic signals – such as cellular or Bluetooth data – are distributed across the cage’s external conducting material and so are prevented from reaching the device.

Nissan says the beauty of the design is its simplicity: Once a mobile device is placed in the compartment and the lid closed, the Nissan Signal Shield creates a “silent zone,” blocking all the phone’s incoming and outgoing cellular, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.

The concept is designed to let drivers choose whether to eliminate the distractions caused by the text messages, social-media notifications and app alerts swamping their smartphones daily.

Research by Nottingham Trent University found the average user checks their phone 85 times a day.

The Royal Automobile Club, the U.K.’s equivalent to the American Automobile Assn., says the number of drivers admitting to handling their phone in the car increased from 8% in 2014 to 31% in 2016. Nissan’s own research found 18% saying they had texted behind the wheel.

If drivers want to listen to music or podcasts stored on their smartphone using the Nissan device, they still can connect to the car’s entertainment system via the USB or auxiliary ports. The device will maintain wired connectivity even when in the Nissan Signal Shield compartment.

To restore the phone’s wireless connections, drivers just open the armrest to reveal the compartment – which can be done without taking eyes off the road or touching the phone itself – and the phone reconnects with its network and the car’s Bluetooth system.

RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams says the Nissan Signal Shield is a good example of a technology that can help drivers be phone smart.

“For those who can’t avoid the temptation, this simple but pretty clever tech gives them a valuable mobile-free zone,” he says.

The U.K. this year introduced stricter penalties for drivers caught using a mobile phone behind the wheel – six penalty points and a £200 ($258.37) fine.