Renault-Nissan Alliance announced it will launch more than ten models with self-driving tech in the next four years. The alliance says that the autonmous technology will be installed on mass-market cars at affordable prices.
An added feature to Renault-Nissan’s plans that they have double goals of zero emissions and zero fatalities.
Later this year, the Alliance will launch a new automotive app for mobile devices, which allows remote interaction with your car.
Next year, it will launch the first “Alliance Multimedia System,” providing new multimedia and navigation features, as well as improved smartphone integration and wireless map updates. In 2018, the Alliance Connectivity & Internet of Things platform will support the new Virtual Personal Assistant feature for individual and business customers.
Autonomous drive is expected to help further reduce driver error, which is responsible for up to 90 percent of all fatalities.
The year 2016 will mark the debut of vehicles with “single-lane control,” a feature that allows cars to drive autonomously on highways, including in heavy, stop-and-go traffic.
In 2018, Renault-Nissan will launch vehicles with “multiple-lane control,” which can autonomously negotiate hazards and change lanes during highway driving. And 2020 will see the launch of “intersection autonomy,” which can navigate city intersections and heavy urban traffic without driver intervention.
All of the Alliance’s autonomous drive technology will be available at the option of the driver.
In 2014, Renault-Nissan “converged” both companies’ engineering organizations. Engineers at Renault and Nissan work together as one team to reduce duplication in the development of next-generation technologies. The technology Renault and Nissan engineers develop together is then available for each company and all brands to use where it makes sense for consumers.
Renault-Nissan will launch a suite of new connectivity applications that will make it easier for people to stay connected to work, entertainment and social networks, also.
In other words, Renault-Nissan engineers have developed a “technology tool kit,” including hardware and software applications. Product teams from Renault, Nissan, Infiniti and other Alliance brands may select those applications for their models, where appropriate. By partnering on advanced research and development, Renault and Nissan are able to work more efficiently, with less cost, and thereby deliver higher value vehicles to their customers.
Renault-Nissan has a research and development budget of about US$5 billion
The Alliance also announced that technology executive Ogi Redzic will lead the global car group’s connected car initiative as Alliance senior vice president, Connected Vehicles and Mobility Services.
Redzic joins Renault-Nissan after positions at Nokia, NAVTEQ, Motorola, and at wireless communication startup cyberPIXIE. He most recently served as senior vice president, Automotive at Nokia HERE, where he led the Automotive Business Group. Redzic, whose new role is effective immediately, will be based in Paris and oversee teams in France and Japan.