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Nissan Motor Company today showcased its latest autonomous-drive (AD) technology in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai area. For the first time in Japan, a test vehicle with no driver in the car has navigated a public road in a complex urban environment. [1*]
“This is a significant step to empower mobility by resolving transportation service challenges faced by local communities, such as driver shortages resulting from an aging population. By leveraging its technology, Nissan will provide a broad range of new services that enable freedom of mobility. Nissan is maximizing its efforts to establish and verify the safety of AD technology tailored to different traffic conditions worldwide. To do this, it is utilizing insights and technologies gained through research in Japan, research in Silicon Valley conducted by the Nissan Advanced Technology Center, and participation in the U.K.’s evolvAD project,” Nissan Motor said.
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The latest test vehicles are based on the Serena – Japan’s top selling minivan – and incorporate 14 cameras, nine radars and six LiDAR sensors. The roof-mounted sensors offer significantly expanded detection by taking advantage of the height of the Serena and enabling more accurate detection of its surroundings, compared to earlier test vehicles. In addition, the use of AI has significantly enhanced recognition, behavioral prediction and judgment as well as control, delivering smooth operation in a variety of complex scenarios.
To ensure the utmost safety for the test vehicle demonstration, Nissan engineers verified an extensive number of possible scenarios along the driving route, added an immediate stop function for emergencies, and introduced intentional redundancies.
Since fiscal year 2017, Nissan has been demonstrating and testing AD technology. [2 *] Currently, Nissan is planning service demonstration tests involving approximately 20 vehicles to take place in Yokohama in fiscal years 2025 to 2026 and is building an operational framework and service ecosystem with stakeholders. Leveraging the test results, in fiscal year 2027 Nissan aims to provide autonomous driving mobility services, in collaboration with municipalities and transportation operators, with remote monitoring.
This initiative will be promoted in close cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; other government ministries, and Yokohama City. The ministries will also promote initiatives to create new autonomous mobility services through their Level 4 Mobility Acceleration Committee.
*Inevitable Nissan AD Footnotes
*1: Based on Nissan research. The tests are being conducted using remote AD systems equivalent to SAE Level 2 automation in line with Japan’s guidelines for deregulation approval for vehicles equipped with remote autonomous driving systems and the criteria for granting permission for road use in demonstration tests of automated driving on public roads. The vehicles are monitored remotely, and a remote driver can take control and drive the vehicles as necessary.
*2: Nissan Motor Company fiscal years run from April 1 to March 31.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Nissan Motor Shows Latest Autonomous-Drive Technologies
Click for more.
Nissan Motor Company today showcased its latest autonomous-drive (AD) technology in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai area. For the first time in Japan, a test vehicle with no driver in the car has navigated a public road in a complex urban environment. [1*]
“This is a significant step to empower mobility by resolving transportation service challenges faced by local communities, such as driver shortages resulting from an aging population. By leveraging its technology, Nissan will provide a broad range of new services that enable freedom of mobility. Nissan is maximizing its efforts to establish and verify the safety of AD technology tailored to different traffic conditions worldwide. To do this, it is utilizing insights and technologies gained through research in Japan, research in Silicon Valley conducted by the Nissan Advanced Technology Center, and participation in the U.K.’s evolvAD project,” Nissan Motor said.
Click for more.
The latest test vehicles are based on the Serena – Japan’s top selling minivan – and incorporate 14 cameras, nine radars and six LiDAR sensors. The roof-mounted sensors offer significantly expanded detection by taking advantage of the height of the Serena and enabling more accurate detection of its surroundings, compared to earlier test vehicles. In addition, the use of AI has significantly enhanced recognition, behavioral prediction and judgment as well as control, delivering smooth operation in a variety of complex scenarios.
To ensure the utmost safety for the test vehicle demonstration, Nissan engineers verified an extensive number of possible scenarios along the driving route, added an immediate stop function for emergencies, and introduced intentional redundancies.
Since fiscal year 2017, Nissan has been demonstrating and testing AD technology. [2 *] Currently, Nissan is planning service demonstration tests involving approximately 20 vehicles to take place in Yokohama in fiscal years 2025 to 2026 and is building an operational framework and service ecosystem with stakeholders. Leveraging the test results, in fiscal year 2027 Nissan aims to provide autonomous driving mobility services, in collaboration with municipalities and transportation operators, with remote monitoring.
This initiative will be promoted in close cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; other government ministries, and Yokohama City. The ministries will also promote initiatives to create new autonomous mobility services through their Level 4 Mobility Acceleration Committee.
*Inevitable Nissan AD Footnotes
*1: Based on Nissan research. The tests are being conducted using remote AD systems equivalent to SAE Level 2 automation in line with Japan’s guidelines for deregulation approval for vehicles equipped with remote autonomous driving systems and the criteria for granting permission for road use in demonstration tests of automated driving on public roads. The vehicles are monitored remotely, and a remote driver can take control and drive the vehicles as necessary.
*2: Nissan Motor Company fiscal years run from April 1 to March 31.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.