Next-gen Nissan Leaf to receive the ProPilot Semi-Autonomous technology

Words by Yash Sunil

Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn announced their Semi- Autonomous driving system called the ProPilot system at CES 2017 at Las Vegas. Nissan also announced that the next generation of their fully electric vehicle, the Leaf will be fitted with the first production car to come with the ProPilot system.

At present Nissan’s developing the ProPilot system in four different stages. The first stage allows the driver to engage the ProPilot guidance system to drive on single-lane highways and does that by reading the lane markers and continuously measuring the distance of the vehicle upfront. The second stage which is set to implement by 2018 would allow the system to be utilised on multi-lane highways where the vehicle would change and merge into other lanes without any input from the driver.

The third stage would include the driver to choose the autonomous system in city driving conditions, but don’t expect to see the system anytime before 2020. The Fourth and the final stage is where Nissan plans to develop fully autonomous vehicles which can perform in any driving conditions without any inputs from the driver whatsoever.

While Nissan are still in the development phase for their Semi-Autonomous systems, Tesla has successfully implemented the autonomous driving technology in their vehicles and Tesla that the car is capable of predicting crash before it actually happens.

The Japanese car manufacturer also plans to expand their autonomous driving systems to Europe, Japan, China and United States by launching 10 new cars with the autonomous system by the year 2020.