Nissan shows autonomous driving technology

DESPITE only recently declaring autonomous driving is “years” away, Nissan has just completed a demonstration in Japan using a Leaf BEV driving autonomously on public roads.

The giant Japanese manufacturer’s demonstration, with the prototype Leaf using Nissan’s in-house-developed autonomous drive technologies, was to showcase progress in its goal towards rolling out autonomous mobility services by mid-2027.

The heavily laden Leaf prototype has 14 cameras, 10 radars and six LiDAR sensors to fulfil the requirements of autonomous driving allowing Nissan to send the vehicle into complex urban environments without a person holding the ‘wheel.

The latest autonomous Nissan differs from earlier prototypes featuring an array of roof-mounted sensors significantly expanding the detection area and enabling more accurate appraisal of its surroundings.

Nissan says as a result, “recognition performance, behavioural prediction and judgment functions, as well as control functions have been enhanced, delivering smooth operation in a variety of complex scenarios”.

The test vehicle drove itself around the busy streets of Yokohama (with a person in the driver’s seat), close to Nissan’s global headquarters in Japan, smoothly demonstrating its ability to predict the behaviour of pedestrians, conduct lane changes when merging, and judge when to safely enter intersections.

This latest autonomous driving effort from Nissan comes after years of “studying business models for future mobility services” that commenced back in 2017.

The tests being undertaken now are being conducted at SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 2 equivalent with the company aiming to continue to expand functionality and to begin offering autonomous-drive mobility services within Japan, potentially starting in three years.

To achieve this timescale, it is working with third parties such as local authorities and transport operators to facilitate the technology.

Early next year, Nissan aims to begin trials in the Minato Mirai area and plans to progress to service demonstration tests within in 2025. When the level of autonomous driving functionality will be gradually increased while assessing customer acceptance.

The aim, like many other manufacturers is to provide driverless services.

Nissan has enlisted the cooperation of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and other central ministries which will also promote initiatives to realise new autonomous mobility services at Level 4 through a body called the Mobility Acceleration Committee.

The SAE has defined six levels of autonomous driving: Level 0 - no driving automation; Level 1 - driver assistance; Level 2- partial driving automation; Level 3 - conditional driving automation; Level 4 - high driving automation; Level 5 - full driving automation.

Nissan says its long-term vision is to “empower” mobility by solving transportation service issues faced by local communities particularly within Japan which has been facing several mobility challenges, such as driver shortages, a result of an ageing population.

In a statement relating to its autonomous driving test regime the carmaker says, “Supporting a resolution to this challenge, Nissan will provide a broad range of new services that enable free movement”.

However, no mention was made in the statement of unresolved legal complications such as privacy issues, cyber security threats and motor accident injury insurance reform related to autonomous driving.