The Japanese car maker, Nissan has begun testing its first prototype vehicle that can use piloted drive on both highway and city/urban roads. Two maintain their corporate visions of “Zero Emission” and “Zero Fatality”, the company’s goal is to eliminate the emission of CO2 gasses from Nissan vehicles and aim to eliminate virtually all fatalities stemming from traffic accidents.“Vehicle Intelligence” will play a key role in realizing the concept of Zero Fatality, and that is why the company is developing an advanced form of vehicle intelligence called “Nissan Intelligent Driving,” which is comprised of various innovative features that will be introduced in stages. In the first stage, Nissan will offer “Piloted Drive 1.0” by the end of 2016 in Japan.
This allows for autonomous driving under heavy highway traffic conditions. In the coming years, the company hopes to implement a multiple lane piloted drive that can conduct lane changes on highways, and by 2020 a new technology will be introduced that allows vehicles to successfully manage city/urban roads- including intersections- autonomously.
The prototype vehicle making its public debut today will be tested in actual traffic conditions on both the highway and city/urban roads to develop and further enhance Nissan Intelligent Driving for public use. The vehicle is based on the Nissan LEAF electric vehicle and it is equipped with features such as a millimetre wave radar, laser scanners, cameras, high-speed computer chips, and a specialized HMI (Human Machine Interface), just to name a few. All of this helps allow the vehicle to operate in an autonomous manner on both highway and city/urban roads except for setting destination points into the navigation system. These tests are planned for Japan as well as overseas in the near future.