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Nissan pledges to bring self-driving cars to showrooms by 2020
Venture Beat ^
| 08/29/2013
| Rebecca Grant
Posted on 08/29/2013 10:09:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Nissan said it will have self-driving cars for the mass market by 2020. The company has unveiled an aggressive plan to build such cars that are commercially viable within two “vehicle generations.”
The company demonstrated its self-driving car tech for the first time at Nissan 360 in Southern California yesterday. It presented Nissan Leafs tricked out with laser scanners, around-view monitor cameras, and artificial intelligence to the audience as a glimpse of a future where our cars drive us.
“Nissan Motor Company’s willingness to question conventional thinking and to drive progress is what sets us apart,” said CEO Carlos Ghosn. “In 2007 I pledged that by 2010 Nissan would mass market a zero-emission vehicle. Today, the Nissan Leaf is the best-selling electric vehicle in history. Now I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realize it.”
Nissan engineers have been working with MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, the University of Tokyo, and startups for years to research and develop the technology. A program is already underway in Japan to build a test ground for the vehicles that involves “real townscapes,” rather than mock-ups, to ensure safety. The tech is an extension of its Safety Shield product which monitors a 360-degree view around vehicles for risks to alert drivers and take action if necessary. Everything is built into the vehicle, and the goal is for the car to drive autonomously on the highway without collisions.
Nissan said that six million crashes in the U.S. cost $160 billion a year, and 93 percent of these accidents are due to human error. Technology that cuts down on human error can save lives, money, and reduce traffic that results from accidents. This will enable insurance companies to offer lower premiums to people who have robot drivers and manufactures to make cars lighter and less “armored against” collisions, and this would increase fuel efficiency and range for electric vehicles. Piper Jaffray’s analyst Gene Munster predicts that the utility of reducing auto deaths and idle time in traffic “add up to a $200 billion opportunity in autonomous vehicle technology.”
Accordingly, autonomous vehicles are one of the hottest tech trends right now and are generating a huge amount of excitement. Competition is fierce to be the first to market. Nissan joins Google, Toyota, and Audi. Ford, Tesla, and startups like Mobileye to make this vision a reality. Google seems to be ahead of the pack. Its self-driving cars have logged over 300,000 miles, are licensed in Nevada, and fancy themselves smart enough to park in spaces reserved for Nobel Prize laureates. Google cofounder Sergey Brin has said that they will be available for everyone by 2017. Even if it won’t be first, Nissan is putting its foot on the gas.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society; Travel
KEYWORDS: cars; nissan; selfdriving
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To: Secret Agent Man
this is not going to end well. Yes, electronic systems never ever fail.
To: SeekAndFind
If they want to put these things out on the road they had better be prepared to pay the politicians BIG TIME to get the immunity from lawsuits that they will need.
The lawyers who be after their neck the first time someone gets killed either in or out one of their vehicles.
I suggest some large donations to Jerry Brown just to get things started. It’s never too early to start buying your own politician.
To: SeekAndFind
I find this technology rather amazing and am all for it. I can see a ton of uses that will be beneficial to many people. However, I find it difficult to believe that states and localities will allow it. If there isn’t human control, then the revenues of those localities will suffer greatly.
23
posted on
08/29/2013 11:06:24 AM PDT
by
CSM
(Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
To: CSM
RE: If there isnt human control, then the revenues of those localities will suffer greatly.
There WILL BE BOTH Human AND electronic control. You can switch from one mode to the other.
To: SeekAndFind
My point is that “self driving” cars will necessarily “obey” all traffic laws, therefore eliminating the revenues brought it with traffic tickets. That is a lot of cash lost for many municipalities!
25
posted on
08/29/2013 11:10:23 AM PDT
by
CSM
(Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
To: SeekAndFind
I think it could make some sense if limited to interstate highway use outside of cities and in sunny weather.
Beyond that, frankly most municipalities do a pretty poor job with road maintenance, construction areas, and signage.
Be interesting to see how such a vehicle would deal with things like that.
Mostly interesting would be dealing with lose-lose choices.
Say your’re driving along a city street with parked cars on your right. Someone opens a door into your path - there’s no time to stop, and there is oncoming traffic in the opposite lane.
Do you take off the door or collide with the oncoming vehicle? Doing the former risks killing the occupant if they happen to step out. Doing the latter might result in less injury, but also violates the law by crossing the center line.
A human (assuming they were paying attention) might be able to ascertain if the oncoming driver was paying attention and take a gamble that they’ll also take evasive measures, or observe the occupant who opened the door and be able to tell if they’re going to hop out. Humans often make the wrong choice, but they often make a better choice than I suspect a machine would with less data.
26
posted on
08/29/2013 11:39:24 AM PDT
by
chrisser
(Senseless legislation does nothing to solve senseless violence.)
To: SeekAndFind
For how long will we be able to drive our own cars, once there is an alternative that is statistically safer? How long after that will it be that the cars will determine where we are allowed to go, and how far, in the interest of the greater public good? What happens when the technology fails and no one has current driving skills?
To: CSM
RE: That is a lot of cash lost for many municipalities!
Which brings us to the PURPOSE of traffic laws.
Why do you have them? Do you “hope” that people obey them in order to avoid accidents, or do you “hope” that people get caught disobeying them in order to raise revenue?
We have now forgotten the purpose of laws.
To: SeekAndFind
"...a future where our cars drive us." As long as that future includes me still retaining my choice to drive my own self piloted vehicle, then I'm ok with it.
If the godless Commies want to take that freedom of mobility away from me, they can stick that car where the sun don't shine.
29
posted on
08/29/2013 1:50:34 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Mark17
Retiring to my adopted home country. Don't let the door hit ya.....
30
posted on
08/29/2013 1:53:10 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
If the godless Commies want to take that freedom of mobility away from me, they can stick that car where the sun don't shine. It will all be done with economics. Obviously they can't convert the entire fleet very quickly. But they will gradually make it prohibitively expensive to operate an "old" vehicle.
31
posted on
08/29/2013 1:56:35 PM PDT
by
nascarnation
(Democrats control the Presidency, Senate, and Media. It's an uphill climb....)
To: nascarnation
There’s a market for freedom of choice and mobility. Not to mention the fact that most Americans will likely break something if anyone ever attempts to take away that fundamental right.
There’s a zone across which a nominally free people cannot be pushed, and this is one of them.
32
posted on
08/29/2013 2:05:30 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: SeekAndFind
The technologists know nothing about cars.
Cars are 1/2 the business of what makes them work and 1/2 the driving experience.
If I want/wanted someone/something else to “drive” me somewhere, I’d take some form of “mass” transportion; that and THAT alone is the only worthwhile “driverless” vehicles for humans.
The rest is technological arrogance and lack of understanding of human nature, which prefers to be independent and in control, not “driven” by someone or something else.
33
posted on
08/29/2013 2:17:13 PM PDT
by
Wuli
To: Windflier
It will occur over time.
We’re already seeing a much smaller % of the teen population obtaining driver licenses compared to historical norms.
Most under 30 now aspire to live the “life of Julia” as govt serfs.
It’s only a matter of years, unfortunately.
34
posted on
08/29/2013 3:16:33 PM PDT
by
nascarnation
(Democrats control the Presidency, Senate, and Media. It's an uphill climb....)
To: nascarnation
It will occur over time. Its only a matter of years, unfortunately. I don't agree with the future you envision for me, and I will do everything I can to resist the brave new world you've accepted, til my dying day.
35
posted on
08/29/2013 3:31:28 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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