Apr 03 2015
In japan a Nissan product which is ready to "carry autonomous drive is being launched in 2016. ," Ghosn said at a press conference on the sidelines of the second day of the annual New York International Auto Show.
Obviously when you have this kind of technology, you want also the Japanese market to enjoy it as soon as possible." Ghosn said the automaker, which has a five-year partnership with NASA to develop the emerging technology, set a timeline of 2016 for when it would launch its first self-driving car. Japan is the first market it has which will have the car. Nissan will first introduce self-driving features that allows the car to drive on highways and by 2020 the company wants the car to be able to navigate through complex city traffic autonomously."It's going to happen step by step, because we need to make sure that the regulators in the different countries feel comfortable. To persuade the regulators that you can take your hands off the wheel or your eyes from the road is going to take a lot of demonstration." Nissan will continue its emphasis on "zero emission" technology, such as the Leaf electric car that will get a new battery with a longer range. But Ghosn said the main obstacle in overcoming consumer anxiety about the range of electric cars is to expand charging infrastructure."As long as you don't have charging infrastructure, we're not going to see a very strong development of the electric car," Ghosn said. "We need the consumer to get confident and for this, the key area is going to be the infrastructure."
The CEO said he welcomes new entries into the electric car segment, such as media reports that Apple Inc. is developing its own, because of the opportunities to develop infrastructure and reduce component costs.
While Nissan has a goal to have 10 percent of its annual sales volume to come from electric cars by 2020, Ghosn said all automakers will have to have their own approach to reducing carbon emissions as governments tighten regulations."If (emission regulations) change, in my opinion, it's going to get tougher," Ghosn said. "Every car company is going to have to have a strategy in zero emission."
