Nissan will bring cars to Europe with partially autonomous driving in 2017

Nissan will start selling cars in Europe with ProPilot technology from 2017. In August this year, the automaker in Japan will release a model equipped with the autonomous driving function. For now, ProPilot only supports autonomous driving in a single lane.

The new Serena, which will go on sale in Japan from the end of August, will be the first Nissan to be equipped with ProPilot. The system will be brought to Europe in 2017 in the Qashqai. According to Nissan, the technology is designed for use on highways and ensures that the car can steer, accelerate and brake within a lane.

The driver can set a speed between ‘about’ 30 and 100 km/h, says Nissan. The system must then ensure that the car remains in the center of the lane and maintains an equal distance from vehicles in front and behind. According to Nissan, the system understands traffic situations and can adapt to them. The function is turned on and off with a button on the steering wheel. According to Reuters, drivers must keep their hands on the wheel and an alarm will sound if the steering wheel is released for more than ten seconds.

For the time being, ProPilot works in a single lane and does not take into account what is happening in the other lanes. This should change in 2018 with a new system that also enables automatic lane changes. Nissan wants its system to be ready by 2020 to allow cars to drive autonomously in cities and at intersections.