Aiming to bring innovation to the automotive industry, Nissan is partnering with NASA to work towards developing autonomous vehicles, with the goal of testing them by the end of 2015. Your car still won’t be able to fly like a spaceship, but you might not have to worry about controlling the steering wheel when Nissan and NASA’s plans for self-driving cars come to life.
“The work of NASA and Nissan — with one directed to space and the other directed to earth, is connected by similar challenges,” said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co, in a press release. “The partnership will accelerate Nissan’s development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that we will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020.”
A new era of driving seems to be on its way and Nissan plans on ushering it in with open arms. The automaker will work closely with NASA’s Ames Research Center in California to research technology for developing autonomous driving systems, human-machine interface solutions and network-enabled applications. The advanced software developed will be used for both land and space projects in the future.
The goal is to bring to life a fleet of zero-emission autonomous vehicles to begin testing at NASA’s research facilities by the end of 2015. By 2020, Nissan and NASA hope to have autonomous driving in full swing, and for driverless vehicles to operate in nearly every situation imaginable, from city streets to country roads across the nation.
Visit our Nissan dealership near Exeter, NH, to experience the innovative technology currently available in all of our new Nissan models!