Nissan Put A Car In A Massive Zorb And Pushed It Down A Hill

Normally, the Nissan Note is a small, reliable city car, and not prone to rolling down hills. Nissan clearly decided that simply wasn't good enough, and so constructed a vast inflatable Zorb ball so as to capture a Note and then send it tumbling. Worry not, though: it's all in the name of demonstrating the car's safety features, which Nissan has dubbed "Safety Shield."

Safety Shield uses a 360-degree camera – mounted at the rear of the Note – to build on things like Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Warning, and Moving Object Detection.

It's all clever stuff, but perhaps not as sexy and attention-grabbing as, say, a huge engine or Pininfarina-designed body, hence the outlandish bubble. Nissan constructed the Zorb out of plastic and then inflated it around the car, until it measures six meters in diameter.

The CarZorb was then taken to "a top-secret military training facility," Nissan says, and launched down the first convenient hill.

Now, Safety Shield probably wasn't much use to the Note as it rolled, and we doubt Nissan would recommend relying on sensors of any sort if you're upside down in your car.

Still, it's a fun stunt, and we look forward to seeing Nissan's rivals rise to the implicit challenge. "Ford Focus in a handglider" has a neat ring to it, as does "Lexus with a parachute."