Nissan plans car that can tell if you're drunk

According to Reuters , which is usually first with this sort of nonsense, the car will check odour and sweat and can lock the ignition if not happy with the results. A camera also checks the drivers' eyes and can send a voice warning if needed.

Another company taking a long, hard look at the way we get from A to B is IBM which last week told The INQUIRER it is working on a variety of projects including:

Cars that can auto-sense other cars and avoid hazardous road conditions by relaying information to drivers.

Voice-recognition in cars so drivers can get flight updates, do email, get directions and traffic information, and control entertainment systems.

Automatic updating on the state of public-transport with sensors relying information to passengers, for example by SMS.

Intelligent traffic lights to ease congestion by using information sent via satellite systems.

Is this all blue sky? Not necessarily.

"Some of this stuff is pretty near-term," Colin Lim of IBM told us. "The transportation industry is going through a transformation right now. Even congestion charging is only one part of the equation and then there's building more roads but we all know that's not sustainable." µ