A pivotal decision by Nissan

Tired of all those three-point turns? Nissan could have a solution.

Tired of all those three-point turns? Nissan could have a solution.

Japan's second-biggest car firm has developed a concept car featuring an egg-shaped cabin atop a wheeled platform that can swivel around 360 degrees, doing away with the need to reverse when emerging from narrow spaces. "With this feature, parking in tight spots is a cinch," says chief designer Masato Inoue.

The electric car, named Pivo after the word "pivot", operates on an experimental system called drive-by-wire, which eliminates the mechanical linkages between cabin and chassis to enable steering, braking and shifting through electronic signals.

The system is the car's version of fly-by-wire technology, which has controlled commercial jets for more than a decade.

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Nissan will showcase the Pivo at this month's Tokyo Motor Show.

A Nissan spokesperson said the real-world application of the concept could be only a decade away. - Reuters