Everyone knows that texting and driving is dangerous and illegal in most places. People still do, however. To demonstrate why texting while driving is something you should never do, Lexus has built a special NX with an electrochromic coating on the glass that can turn opaque.
Lexus applied the electrochromic coating to block the driver’s outside view for 4.6 seconds, which is the average time it takes to respond to a text while driving. The company then unleashed the drivers on a closed course with obstacles so that they could experience the danger of not paying attention to the road.
The results are shocking. To really get the message across, Lexus moves an obstacle in front of the vehicle when the windows become opaque. The Lexus stunt shows how not paying attention to the road can lead to tragedy not only for the driver, but for other people as well.
While 4.6 seconds may not seem like very long, at 70 miles per hour you would cover 472 feet without looking at the road. To put that number in perspective, a football field, including end areas, is 360 feet.
While not a substitute for attention to the road, the NX comes standard with the Lexus Safety System + 2.0 suite of technologies in case something goes wrong. It includes a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assistance, road sign detection, adaptive cruise control, adaptive high beams and blind spot monitoring with traffic alert rear transverse.
7 Pictures
A new generation of the NX (above) is slated for the 2022 model year, and pictures of it have already been leaked. The design looks similar to the front, except for the integration of the daytime running lights into the main lights. At the rear there are full-width taillights. A heavily modified interior features a large infotainment screen that no longer lacks the often-criticized touch controls of the current model. The powertrain lineup will include hybrid and plug-in hybrid choices.
