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Transportation

Nissan's 'Office Pod' Imagines a New Kind of Remote Working (cnn.com) 67

Posted by BeauHD from the work-from-anywhere dept.
Nissan has unveiled a concept vehicle that features a retractable office for remote workers and digital nomads. CNN reports: Dubbed Office Pod Concept, the mobile workspace comes with a modified Cosm chair by US furniture-maker Herman Miller, and desk space big enough for a large computer monitor. Those seeking privacy can set up inside the pod with the doors closed. Ambient lighting gives the office a futuristic feel, while electric shades help deter prying eyes.

But, with the tap of an app, the pod extends out the back in a matter of seconds (as shown in a promotional video), and the trunk door becomes a cover for your al-fresco office. The vehicle's rooftop also doubles up as a space to relax under a parasol. The concept vehicle is a modified version of Nissan's NV350 Caravan, which hit the market in 2012 and currently retails in Japan from 2.3 million to 4 million yen ($22,000 to $38,000). While Nissan has no plans to sell the design on the mass market, the carmaker said it is considering making some of the individual modified parts available to customers.
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Nissan's 'Office Pod' Imagines a New Kind of Remote Working More

Nissan's 'Office Pod' Imagines a New Kind of Remote Working

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  • Id buy it if it came with star link.

  • Claustraphobes nightmare. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lister king of smeg ( 2481612 ) on Friday February 05, 2021 @08:14PM (#61032876)

    that looks really confining and uncomfortable. this is also absolutely never going into mass production. just a media attention grab concept car

    • Looks like a VW van.

      https://hiconsumption.com/1967... [hiconsumption.com]

      The idea of an office in a van isn't new.

    • that looks really confining and uncomfortable

      I didn't even read the summary; the headline contained the word "Nissan" and I heard "Ghosn" and that was enough.

      Long live Nissan - RIP Nissan

    • that looks really confining and uncomfortable. this is also absolutely never going into mass production. just a media attention grab concept car

      My office is in a converted loft and the desk space as well as the space for the chair is not much bigger so I have some first hand experience of working in such environment.

      It can be done, but it requires careful use of space and not something designed by an idiot.This looks idiotic:

      1. There is no VESA mount for the monitor. If you are tight on space you have to be a retard to use monitor on a stand. Or a designer looking at sticking Apple gear into the mock-up.

      2. The chair must have forward movement

    • I like how they put a brand-name chair in a concept car to make it seem more viable.

      Apart from that, this is probably great if you are a short, near-sighted person that like bugs in your face and on the screen, and don't need to sleep.

    • Pretty much— functionally it makes me think how a caged lamb must feel. If I wanted a nomad office, it would look much more like a tailgating camper with a bar chair for when I wanted to not be standing.

  • Just plug in a laptop (Score:3)

    by mschuyler ( 197441 ) on Friday February 05, 2021 @08:17PM (#61032890) Homepage Journal

    It's be a lot cheaper..

  • Hmm... almost as advanced as the Cuborg 2000.
    https://dilbert.com/strip/1994... [dilbert.com]

  • With a tap of the app? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nkwe ( 604125 ) on Friday February 05, 2021 @08:33PM (#61032948)

    Really? You need to run an app on your phone to get the workspace thing to slide out? You just pressed a button on the lift gate to open the back, why would you not have another physical button to extend the workspace?

    • But wait! You also have to tap a button on your smartwatch to tap the button on your phone! Otherwise it will be locked.
      Of course it will be teensy-tiny, with several buttons around it that do things you never ever want, so your finger will block your view and you will not even see which spot of your finger it considers the touching point.

      Damn, I wanted to use comedic exaggeration, but this actually sound entirely realistic nowadays...

    • Really? You need to run an app on your phone to get the workspace thing to slide out? You just pressed a button on the lift gate to open the back, why would you not have another physical button to extend the workspace?

      Because you need to be authenticated to get the pod deployed - I mean, you wouldn't want some random weirdo to be able to that, would you?

  • This thing looks cramped as hell, no way I'd want to work in that.

    It's so tight that you don't get into it, you put it on.

  • ... retractable office for remote workers and digital nomads.

    So I can live, work and be buried in it ...

  • Hahaha. Nissan is so far behind on self-driving that there is no way this could become real within 15 to 20 years. If it does happen I would expect it from maybe GM, Benz, or Tesla. Nissan still doesn't have cars on the road with cameras. They're research and development into self-driving cars is pathetic. I can't believe they are funding these BS concepts instead of developing technology.

    • Nissan has no idea how to deliver and support software.

      I have a Leaf. You are supposed to be able to control apps on your cellphone (for example: Pandora) from the car's infotainment screen. Some braindead marketing guy thought that they could make money out of this in the form of a subscription, so this system requires that the cellphone runs an app that logs into Nissan's servers somewhere.

      It worked sporadically with Pandora for about 2 years. Other apps never worked. The third year, it stopped working en

    • What are you talking about? There is no mention to self-driving anywhere in the summary or the article.

  • All I see there, is crippling loneliness, and no physical contact at all.

    (If you think physical contact is not that important, try not ever touching your baby. ... Even if you feed it, and care for it and everything, It will literally die.)

    But I'm curious about other people's experiences and views.

    • What the heck are you talking about? The ability to travel enables you to meet more people, go places with family, and experience different towns. It's the opposite of what you're saying. Compare that to being stuck in an office or cubicle.

      • But that isn’t the tool any sane person would be a nomad in or with. I have been a nomad for about 5 years of my life at different scales— 85l backpack to a bicycle trailer to a growing gypsy camp of rolling duffle bags to aspirations of a campervan. The campervan is only a tool of necessity, and I struggle to think of why someone would chose to sit inside it to work for any length of time.

    • All I see there, is crippling loneliness, and no physical contact at all.

      You must be new here. Welcome to the pandemic!

  • ... the homeless option package.

  • This is their way of saying (Score:3)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday February 05, 2021 @09:12PM (#61033058)
    you're not going to be able to afford even an apartment soon, let alone a house.
  • Its a no deal as long as it is gasoline powered. My model 3 on the other hand has enough juice run my suburban home for three days including the freezer, electric dryer, washing machine, A/C and the electric range.

  • Airstream instead (Score:4, Interesting)

    by R3d M3rcury ( 871886 ) on Friday February 05, 2021 @09:26PM (#61033092) Journal

    I think I'd rather have something like this. [airstream.com]

    • Sounds better than Nissan but it is 6 figures without a truck or van to move it. If I were young, single, and working in the bay area, it would be a good deal. This could be your home if you are homeless and making 6 figures a year, and don't want to move to a cheaper place to live.

      • It worked well for Jim Rockford. Spot of fishing on the beech, tacos with Rocky for dinner and beaten up by hoods before bed.

      • https://www.catalinayachts.com/ocean-series/catalina-445/ Yes, mid 6 figures even on the used market and the shoal draft version needs 5 feet of water under it but with the coming anthropomorphic sea level rise not too much of a worry. The aft portside cabin is very configurable. Wife has raced one offshore and says they are fine. Buy in from the Admiral is always required.
         

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tom ( 822 )

      Some core problem: If the main purpose of the thing is the working desk, then why does it get such a tiny space?

      I'd want a proper chair and desk in the middle of the largest area, and a way to transform them in the evening, maybe make the desk a coffee table and move the chair away.

      I'd not want to spend most of my working hours pressed into the smallest corner in the thing.

      • Airstream basically took one of their existing designs and modified it. Normally there are bunk beds where that office is located. The original design is here:
        https://www.airstream.com/trav... [airstream.com]

        The bunk beds are where you normally cram the kids, so of course its small.

        As you say, I'd like to see something more purposely designed. Space is always a premium in those things, but it seems logical to make the desk also the dining room table and that way you could have a larger work area (and a larger dining are

  • Isnt it far simpler to stay at home ?

    Fuck why are people so stupid when the answers are far simpler, cheaper, and give you a life for better things. I gues far too many people have no life and no friends so all they can think of is wasting away at work.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dohzer ( 867770 )

      That *IS* someone's home. It's for the day when people can't even afford to rent apartments, and aren't senior enough to qualify for an office desk.

      • If you can afford to buy this, you can afford to rent. Its this sort of bullshit "solutions" over far simpler solutions that make house prices and other things worse.
      • This could be used as a home, but the real goal is a second on the road office, and that my friend is a bullshit solution. No where in the article and few if comments are pretending its a primary home.

  • What is the point of that thing.

    It is a bit like a camper van (which Nissan sells). Except that you can't use it to camp.
    In fact, you can do everything it does and more with a folding table, a chair and a laptop.

    It is not even a good mobile office. For that you'd want a good power system, maybe some solar panels, large batteries, or a generator. Enough to run a nice desktop PC with a dual-monitor setup. Not just that puny inverter that probably can't even run the pictured coffee machine. A nice touch would

  • I can see a lot of great uses for that, less for software engineers like me and more for medical professionals or on-site clinics. It looks smaller than a standard camper, which will help in urban areas. I can also picture people buying them for use at a vacation home or as an occasional office.

    These sort of things are not for most, but I know many nutty people who would go crazy for this.

    Really, with 2 small kids, it's very tempting to have one of these just get to work away from them. I could hav

  • That is the most terrifying claustrophobic "office" design I've ever seen. I guess it works better than nothing if you live in a van down by the river, but nope. Another designer solving the wrong problem.

  • Tiny restricted space, and an entire vehicle dedicated to just do what? Drive your office somewhere? So instead of LESS commuting, you will do more, just in the opposite direction (out of the city, instead of into it) ?

    Great idea. Someone ask them if they've heard of climate change.

  • ..because it's most important office fixture remote workers need, and want.

  • This looks like a surveillance van! Careful where you park it.

  • This is NOT new (Score:3)

    by sdinfoserv ( 1793266 ) on Saturday February 06, 2021 @12:39PM (#61034294)
    I was selling cars in the early 1990’s and Oldsmobile had one of these. I remember seeing Oldsmobile marketing material on a version of the silhouette with an interior office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
    It was targeted to real-estate professionals “on the go” types. The reason you don’t see any, is because they didn’t sell any.. This was a failed idea 25 years ago, it’s a failed idea now. Just like the ‘Stones said in the ‘60’s in their song “Tears go by”. The lyrics “doing things I used to do, they think are new, I sit and watch as tears go by”.
  • Who is supposed to buy these, who is the market audience? Profit driven corporations are supposed to spend $50K per unit vs give a remote worker a $2k laptop and VPN? The article mentions “digital nomads”.. you mean people already living in vans and RV’s are supposed to buy this too? Someone is clearly living sensory deprivation tank

    • "Nissan's new concept camper van, which turns into a home office for remote working."

      Okay, so it's a camper van?

      "The rooftop space can be accessed from inside the vehicle."

      Okay, so from these two photos we can already tell that it's not a camper van. There's only an office space and a ladder to climb on the roof. No place to sleep, no equipment to store and prepare food, no toilet, no shower, nothing. You could easily replicate the functionality of their prototype with a standard Nissan NV200.

      The only thing

      • After reading the article (please, don't be angry!) I see it's based on their NV350, which I did not know existed until a minute ago.

        According to Wikipedia, "the NV3500 comes in S, SV or SL trim levels with no high roof available." While a high roof is not a requirement, it is a nice thing to have otherwise it feels like you're camping in a minivan.

        • While a high roof is not a requirement, it is a nice thing to have otherwise it feels like you're camping in a minivan.

          I camp in my minivan. But I just take along a laptop, not a whole office. And I only do it for a few weeks at a time.

  • Who's the dumbass at CNN who decided to pick that terrible font for the title of the article?!

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