Nissan Begins On-Road Driverless Testing in Japan

Nissan starts testing hands-free autonomous driving vehicles on Japan’s roads hoping to bring driverless commercial services to market by 2027.

A Nissan Leaf battery-electric prototype uses an extensive sensor suite of 14 cameras, 10 radars and six lidar sensors to cope with complex urban environments. Compared to earlier prototypes, Nissan’s latest attempt features an array of roof-mounted sensors in a bid to expand the detection of objects in the local environment.

The test mule will be deployed on the busy streets of Yokohama, close to Nissan’s global headquarters. Nissan says it has been developing driverless technology since 2017 and uses a safety driver present at a Level 2 capability.

However, it hopes to achieve higher levels with this real-world testing working with third parties such as local authorities and transport operators. It expects to expand trials by the end of this year to the Minato Mirai area, gradually increasing automated function tests while assessing customer acceptance.

Nissan conducts the tests with cooperation with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and other central ministries. The ministries will also promote initiatives to accelerate autonomous mobility services at the Level 4 Mobility Acceleration Committee that they organize.