I thought that was a great rationalization for the awards (especially for steer-by-wire) - the technology itself if potentially revolutionary. The execution of the technology currently sucks (and this was clearly stated in the article), but that doesn't mean that the technology itself shouldn't be recognized.
Funny how Infiniti is trying out all sorts of new engineering tech, while Nissan refuses to innovate. Maybe Infiniti is where all the engineering R&D money is?