The Nissan self-driving prototype vehicle, which is being tested in actual traffic conditions on the highways and urban roads, is developed from its current Leaf EV and it is equipped with Nissan's Intelligent driving features, such as laser scanners, cameras, high-speed computer processors, a millimeter wave radar and a specialized HMI (Human Machine Interface).
With all of this the Nissan LEAF EV autonomous prototype,which demonstrates piloted drive, can make lane changes,stop at traffic, overtake slower or stopped vehicle, interchange driving, exit and merge, turning out intersections without crossing lanes etc. all on its own without the guy in the driver seat touching the steering wheel or their foot on the gas pedal.
Nissan hopes to have fully autonomous cars that eliminate the emission of CO2 gases and also get rid of all car-related accidents by 2020--that's five years from now.
Nissan won't follow in the footsteps of other autonomous vehicle companies such as Google and Tesla that are aiming to bring the full package by 2020. Rather it will bring its 'Intelligent driving' features to its cars in stages:
Stage One will see Nissan cars drive themselves under heavy highway traffic conditions next year in Japan. Stage 2, its cars will able to conduct multiple lane change on highways and, in 2020 Nissan fully autonomous cars will become available.
NEXT Toyota unveils its self-driving car