Nissan wants to fight texting while driving by throwing your phone in a cage

“19th century innovation with a 21st century application” is rarely a good way to start a pitch. And it’s not even true - Nissan’s idea is downright medieval. The car maker is proposing what is essentially a chastity belt to keep you from the temptation of using your phone while driving.

A prototype armrest for the Nissan Juke is the most stylish Faraday cage we’ve seen yet. If you haven’t heard the term, it’s an enclosure that prevents wireless signals from getting in or out - no 4G, no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, nothing that can deliver or send a digital message between your phone and the world at large.

Still, the leather trim doesn’t detract from a certain flaw in this idea - that you need strong will to use this product. You see, reconnecting with society is easy, just open the box and let the digital signals flood into your phone.

But you can resist that temptation, why not just put the phone on silent and keep it in the glove box? And if you can’t resist, why isn’t there are a time lock on this armrest? Your will may be easy to break, but a good padlock is not.

Look, texting and driving is bad - it leads to many fatal accidents. But Nissan’s solution is a placebo or just a marketing gimmick at best. A simple software solution may be better in this case, something like Samsung’s S Bike - the Motion Lock feature won’t let you answer a call if the phone detects that you’re driving.

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