[TOKYO] Nissan Motor is on a mission under new chief executive officer Ivan Espinosa to rebuild its business. Refreshing its lineup is a key part of that, but so is winning back customers who demand cutting-edge technology.
Leveraging its partnership with Wayve Technologies, the UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup backed by SoftBank Group, Nissan is preparing to launch the newest generation of its ProPilot driver-assistance system during the fiscal year ending March 2028.
The Japanese automaker says the most advanced iteration of its driver-assist technology will be on par with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD), which despite its name requires human supervision and intervention. While the systems still amount to Level 2 autonomy, meaning a person must always be ready to take over, ProPilot amounts to Nissan’s best foot forward in contending with the US electric vehicle giant and Alphabet’s Waymo in the race to build self-driving cars.
While previous iterations of Nissan’s ProPilot system were capable of navigating large freeways, the next version will be able to take on complex city streets using fewer cameras and monitors thanks to AI software developed by Wayve.
“We think ours is smarter than Tesla FSD, just not as polished as a product,” said Tetsuya Iijima, a general manager in Nissan’s assisted-driving technology engineering department.
Wayve announced in April that it was joining forces with Nissan, marking the first time a major automaker will integrate its AI technology into production cars. The startup also tapped Japan as the next location in its global expansion, planning to open a test centre in Yokohama in what will be its fourth location after the UK, US and Germany.
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Nissan’s ProPilot was first introduced in 2016 and assisted with lane centring and keeping a safe distance from vehicles ahead. The second version in 2019 offered hands-off driving on freeways.
But Japanese automakers are well behind what’s playing out in China. There, robotaxi technology is significantly advanced, featuring widespread Level 4 autonomous-driving capabilities in pilot programmes across cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
Some Chinese companies already offer driverless ride-hailing services and are expanding overseas, particularly in the Middle East. Key players such as Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai are leading the development, supported by government investment and regulatory efforts, positioning China at the forefront of the global robotaxi market.
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While regulatory hurdles are a challenge for assisted or autonomous driving technology in most parts of the world, they are especially tough in Japan, where stringent laws mean all vehicles for the time being will require the continuous supervision of a human being.
But Japan, like China, also faces a unique set of demographic circumstances that would make assisted driving useful. Its ageing, shrinking population has resulted in a dearth of taxi drivers, for example. As such, Nissan aims to roll out an autonomous vehicle ride-share service in 2027. Earlier this year, Toyota Motor teamed up with Waymo to explore collaborations on autonomous-driving software.
Despite billions of US dollars in investment having been poured into the sector, the leap to Level 5, or complete autonomy, remains elusive. Still, Nissan is optimistic.
“Its situational awareness is close to human,” Iijima said during a prototype test drive in Tokyo last week. “I believe this technology will change lives.” BLOOMBERG
