Nissan has announced its ProPilot 2.0 driver assistance system will launch soon in Japan.
The ProPilot system has been around for a while now. It made an appearance on the Nissan Leaf in 2017 and Qashqai in 2018, but now the system has been improved and upgraded. It is now said to support "hands-off driving" within a single lane as long as the car doesn't need to switch lanes.
Cars equipped with this upgraded system will use "a combination of onboard cameras, radars, sonars, GPS and high-accuracy 3D map data" to allow for hands-off driving. The ProPilot 2.0 system still requires the driver's attention to be fully on the road ahead and for them to be prepared to take control if necessary.
An internal monitoring system is present within the car to ensure drivers have their eyes on the road. ProPilot 2.0 then makes it possible to drive from on-ramp to off-ramp on motorways. A pre-defined travel route is necessary to engage the system but otherwise, it should make motorway driving far less taxing.
This hands-off automated driving system is limited to a single lane, but it is capable of detecting slower moving vehicles in front and suggesting an overtaking manoeuvre is necessary. Audio and visual warnings alert the driver when such a move is required and they will need to put both hands on the steering wheel and make the necessary turn signal to confirm the lane change.
The system will also alert the driver when the motorway exit is coming up and remind them that driver assistance is about to end and normal control will need to resume.
ProPilot 2.0 is set to make its first appearance on the Nissan Skyline in Japan in autumn 2019. This move follows on from over 350,000 Nissan vehicles currently on the road already equipped with ProPILOT driver assistance technology.