Nissan trials autonomous cars
Nissan’s prototype Leaf electric car with autonomous capabilities will be undertaking demonstrations conducted at SAE Level 2 equivalent with a safety driver. But Nissan intends to further expand the functionality and offer autonomous driving mobility services in Japan from fiscal 2027.
The prototype Nissan Leaf will be driving around the busy city streets of Yokohama, which is close to Nissan’s global headquarters in Japan. The company says the prototype can predict the behaviour of pedestrians, conduct lane changes when merging, and judge when to safely enter intersections.
In the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, Nissan aims to begin trials in the Minato Mirai area, the central business district of Yokohama with a futuristic waterfront and high-rise buildings. Nissan plans to progress to service demonstration tests within fiscal year 2025, whereby, the level of autonomous driving functionality is meant to be gradually increased while assessing customer acceptance to provide driverless services.
In describing these developments, Nissan mentions Japan’s ageing population – an issue among all highly industrialized nations – and the lack of drivers. In Europe, where the ageing population is similarly affecting a need for drivers for public transport services, this is often problematic in low-density areas where distances are longer, easier to address with autonomous driving due to fewer obstacles and offer a better business case without driver services. In Germany, early last year, Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) subsidiary CleverShuttle announced plans to operate autonomous vehicles serving more than 3,000 virtual stops in lower-density and rural areas, which will be used with vehicles from the Chinese manufacturer Nio.
For its efforts in Japan, Nissan says that its autonomous driving program is part of a greater push to “provide a broad range of new services that enable free movement.” The initiative with Nissan in Japan is being conducted in cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and other central ministries.
Autonomous vehicles in built-up areas have been problematic. Earlier this year, Apple shut down its autonomous vehicle plans, Tesla’s autonomous vehicle plans started looking doubtful, the US expressed concerns about autonomous vehicles from China gathering data, while autonomous driving functions in shuttles and trucks seemed to move further forward.
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