Nissan Motor Corp has tested its driverless technology in Japan, incorporating 14 cameras, six LiDar sensors installed around the van and nine radars. Although the momentum has not been picked up yet, the country is gradually making strides in a marketwidely dominated by China and the US.
Japan is inching closer to its dream of achieving great success with driverless cars. Nissan Motor Corp. Tesla and Google’s Waymo have already taken the lead in the US, but Japan’s journey to self-driven vehicles has been slow so far.
According to the AP report, Nissan’s demonstration took place in bustling streets with other cars and pedestrians. Notably, the self-driven van stayed within the maximum speed limit of that area, which was 40 kph, and the vehicle’s final destination was set through a smartphone app.
Takeshi Kimura, Mobility and AI laboratory engineer, Nissan Motors, has implied that the carmaker is more confident about integrating driver-less technology with the overall functioning of the vehicles because the company understands them better.
“How the sensors must be adapted to the car’s movements, or to monitor sensors and computers to ensure reliability and safety requires an understanding of the auto system overall,” said Kimura during the demonstration.
The automaker tried its driverless technology on its Serena minivan. Notably, this test could be considered level two of the industry, as a person sits in front of a remote-control panel in a different location outside the car to take immediate control if the technology faces any issue.
Nissan claims that it has a human sitting in the front passenger seat who can also take the controls into their own hands if required. According to the automobile giant, it plans to prepare 20 such vehicles in Yokohama in the future, aiming to reach level four of these experiments. This implies no human involvement at all by the year 2029.
Takeo Igarashi, a University Professor at Tokyo who specialises in computer and information technology, explains that certain challenges remain with such technology.
He believes it is human nature to be more alarmed by accidents with self-driven cars than by everyday crashes.
Igarashi warns, “In human driving, the driver takes responsibility. It’s so clear. But nobody is driving so you don’t know who will take responsibility.”
Interestingly, Nissan claims that its technology is safe. Humans cannot look at the front, back, and all around at the same time, but their sensors can in the self-driven vehicle.
