Nissan is working on a semi-autonomous Leaf Piloted Drive 1.0 concept that began testing, earlier this week in Japan south of Tokyo st its Advanced Technology Center. The company has three Leafs outfitted with connected car tech for self-driving features.
According to Nissan, the self-driving mode will make the “occupants feel as though they were in the hands of a skilled driver.”
Each Leaf has dozens of sensors, 12 cameras, five radar sensors, four laser scanners as well as ultrasonic sensors, according to Tetsuya Iijima, general manager of Nissan’s advanced driver assist systems strategy and engineering division
The Leafs have miniature, high-spec laser scanners that Nissan developed. The lasers sense the distance between vehicles to enable the car to weave through tight spaces. The eight-way 360-degree view camera system offers precise routing information through intersections and curves.
The driver can see a head-up display and a center cluster that provides a bird’s eye view of the car and its surroundings during Piloted Drive mode.
Nissan expects that autonomous driving on the highway will be offered in Japan before the end of 2016 and will include a Manual Drive mode allowing the human driver take control of car when needed. Nissan predicts it will have fully self-driving cars by 2020.