Nissan Debuts Autonomous ProPilot Technology — Nearly Hands-Free Highway Cruising
Following in the footsteps of Tesla, amongst others, Nissan recently unveiled its new autonomous driving technology, known as ProPilot — which will allow for nearly hands-free highway cruising.
The company’s new ProPilot autonomous technology will make its debut in the new Nissan Serena 5-door minivan set to be released soon in the Japanese market. A US release is reportedly planned as well, but no timeline has been revealed as of yet. It’s also not clear if the US debut of the technology will be in the Serena or in a different model.
The ProPilot technology works by controlling the vehicle’s steering, braking, and acceleration automatically, through the use of a mono-camera paired with image-processing technology. The technology can reportedly recognize and react to vehicles traveling in front of the car, and also lane markers, in 3-dimensions. It will reportedly maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle ahead. “Safe”is a preset choice which is tweakable by the user.
Autoblog provides more, stating that, “the autonomous technology may give drivers the ability to take their hands off the wheel, but it doesn’t necessarily tolerate it. According to Automotive News, a torque sensor on the steering column senses when the driver is touching steering wheel. If no torque is being applied, a warning light comes on, which is followed by a chime. The autonomous function will eventually disengage if the driver does not interact with the steering wheel after several seconds. This is similar to the operation of most other autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, with the exception of Tesla Autopilot.”
Further functionality is expected to be deployed later, according to those in the know (and stands to reason, considering the changes to the industry in store for the next decade or two). Beginning in 2018, the ProPilot technology will be able to change lanes autonomously, and by 2020, travel on urban roads.
Given their synergies, some of Nissan’s next-gen electric cars are expected to use Nissan’s most leading-edge autonomous driving tech. The Nissan IDS was a widely covered electric concept car with such autonomous tech, and it is expected to be put into production in some form or another.
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