"Be one with your car" is a mantra often muttered by motorheads, but Nissan is taking syncing with your vehicle to a whole new level with the introduction of the Nismo Watch.
Billed as the first smartwatch to connect car and driver, this concept wrist-warmer comes on the heels of the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Qualcomm Toq's reveals.
Clearly, it's time to settle in for a deluge of techy tickers.
Nissan called the new smartwatch its first step into wearable tech, foreshadowing more developments down the line. The Nismo Watch offers a mix of biometric data and car performance stats, and it's specifically designed for drivers of its Nismo performance line of vehicles, which include the Juke Nismo and 370Z Nismo.
Wearable stats
The biometric data coming from the Nismo Watch is sent in real time, keeping a finger on a wearer's internals through a heart rate monitor and ideally leading to an increase in performance and efficiency.
There's plenty more to look at on the car side of things, too. The Nismo Watch connects to a vehicle using a smartphone app and Bluetooth Low Energy, creating a flow of data between car and wearable.
The watch can keep track of a car's efficiency by monitoring its average speed and fuel use, and according to a promo video, the Nismo Watch can warn you to slow down if your heart rate gets too high, give a heads up on road conditions and send you alerts when it's time to schedule car maintenance, among other tailored car messages.
While it's not going to count your calories like a Nike Fuelband or snap a picture like the Galaxy Gear, for those whose livelihoods, thrills and gas bills rest in the drivers seat, the Nismo Watch could prove worth wearing.
Unsurprisingly, there's a social element at play as well. Nissan said the watch keeps an eye on and rates how a user performs across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram through its Social Speed software. Alerts for a new message and back-patting messages like "You tweet like a pro" are apparently part of the package.
Nissan is offering the watch in three colors - black, white and "flagship" black and red. Its design is seamless and features two buttons to control the UI. According to the carmaker, the watch's lithium battery can last more than seven days with normal use. A micro-USB port will juice the Nismo Watch when it needs to fill up.
The Nissan watch should be available globally, though we have no word yet on pricing.
Racing into the future
Attendees of the Frankfurt Motor Show can sneak a peak at the Nismo Watch between Sept. 10 and Sept. 22, but bear in mind that this is part of a larger Nissan scheme to get performance-enhancing wearables out to the public at large.
According to the company, it's currently investigating heart and brain monitoring tools for use in future wearables. It hopes to take tech developed for the Nismo Lab, a performance analysis tool, beyond the racetrack and into the hands (or wrists, rather) of non-racing athletes and regular Nissan owners alike.
It's pinpointed three areas for future work; electrocardiogram to measure intervals of R-R heart rhythms and identify early fatigue, electroencephalogram brainwave to monitor drivers' levels of concentration and emotions, and skin temperature to keep track of body temp and hydration.
Nissan looks to be heading full throttle into wearables, which should make for one hell of a ride.
