Nissan is developing car upholstery that feels like human skin

It's pretty creepy sounding, but instead of going all Ed Gein on us, Nissan engineers are working to develop synthetic materials that can replicate the touch and feel of a human finger.

When you're sitting inside a car, one key factor that influences how luxurious it feels is the way the various surfaces actually feel to your hand. Soft touch plastics with some give always feel more refined than a hard plastic surface, while real high-end cars will often use leather everywhere. Engineers at Nissan decided to study this a little more deeply, and they have found that the sensation that gives us the most luxurious feeling is actually our own human skin.

Humans respond to another human's touch in a way unlike any other sensation, so this all kind of makes sense when you think about it. The four key factors examined were the flexibility, temperature, smoothness and moistness of a human finger, which they then tried to match using synthetic materials.

When all of this work might show up in a new Nissan or Infinity car interior isn't clear. Still, I'm wondering if they could have saved some time by going first to the adult sex toy industry. After all, they've been working on real-feeling fake human skin for decades.

Via Jalopnik

For the latest tech stories, follow DVICE on Twitter
at @dvice or find us on Facebook