Driverless car takes to Japan’s roads

On Monday, a driverless car took to public roads in Japan for the first time.

Nissan was testing its latest autonomous driving technology in a “complex urban environment”, in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai area.

Its team has been developing its own, proprietary autonomous driving (AD) technology and plans to launch in Japan. In the AD world, a “complex urban environment” is the big test — dynamic, unpredictable, with intersections, traffic signals and a variety of vehicles, including bicycles and pedestrians.

A Nissan spokesperson says: “This is a significant step to empower mobility by resolving transportation service challenges faced by local communities, such as driver shortages resulting from an ageing population. By leveraging its technology, Nissan will provide a broad range of new services that enable freedom of mobility.”

The company is focused on establishing and verifying the safety of AD technology in different traffic conditions, worldwide. And it has been doing this by combining insights and technologies gained through research in Japan, research in Silicon Valley conducted by the Nissan Advanced Technology Center, and participation in the UK’s evolvAD project. The last a UK autonomous driving research project backed by Nissan and funded by the UK Government, which aims to advance the UK supply chain by applying AD technologies on urban residential and rural roads.

ABOUT THE VEHICLE

The test vehicles on the road this week are based on the Serena, Japan’s top-selling minivan.

Each vehicle has 14 cameras, nine radars and six LiDAR sensors.

The spokesperson explains: “The roof-mounted sensors offer significantly expanded detection by taking advantage of the height of the Serena and enabling more accurate detection of its surroundings, compared to earlier test vehicles.

“In addition, the use of AI has significantly enhanced recognition, behavioural prediction and judgment as well as control, delivering smooth operation in a variety of complex scenarios.”

With a focus on safety, Nissan engineers went through a lot of possible scenarios along the driving route, added an “immediate stop” function for emergencies, and introduced “intentional redundancies”.

THEN, NOW, FUTURE

+ Nissan has been demonstrating and testing AD technology since 2017.

+ Its AD team is planning tests involving about 20 vehicles in Yokohama in 2025 to 2026.

+ Following this, Nissan aims to provide autonomous driving mobility services in 2027, in collaboration with municipalities and transportation operators.

+ Initially, there will still be remote monitoring.