Nissan aims to equip cars with lidar for self-driving functions by 2030

Nissan is testing the use of lidar to scan the environment around the car. The manufacturer wants to use this data to enable self-driving functions, such as changing lanes and preventing accidents. Later this decade, the first cars with lidar should appear.

The manufacturer tests lidar with a modified Skyline sedan and claims to combine images from lidar, radar and cameras with his ground truth perception technique. The system can thus recognize the shape and distance of objects, as well as the environment around the car ‘in real time and with high accuracy’. Based on this data, a car can then ‘analyze the situation, assess and automatically avoid and avoid collisions’.

The system must also be able to recognize delayed traffic and obstacles on the road. For example, the car must be able to change lanes by itself, in order to avoid slow traffic or the obstacles. Ground truth perception can also provide the driver with extra data if the car’s digital maps are not available.

Nissan is collaborating with Luminar for the system. Mercedes and Audi, among others, also work with this company, which supplies lidar systems. Nissan is working with Applied Intuition to develop the necessary simulation software for collision avoidance.

The lidar system could eventually also be used for self-driving cars, Nissan thinks. The car manufacturer expects to have the ground truth perception system finished by the middle of this decade. ‘Certain new models’ will then receive the system. By 2030, ‘virtually’ every new Nissan should have the system.

The Nissan Skyline with lidar