Nissan Self-Driving Cars Tow Cars at Oppama Plant

Nissan self-driving cars are towing other cars at their Japan factory.

Many tech and car companies are testing their autonomous car technology for its eventual commercial release, some in more controlled conditions than others. However, it seems that Nissan is using the self-driving cars they have developed to tow other cars around in one of their factories in Japan.

Nissan, a well-known Japanese automaker isn’t going to be outdone by other companies in the race to release the first commercial autonomous cars. For this purpose, they have begun testing the current level of their technology on a number of Leaf electric cars which are used at their Oppama Plant in Japan transport other cars on a trailer to the wharf, after which they will be loaded onto transport ships.

Nissan believes that testing self-driving technology in this manner will help shipping companies save money as well as boost efficiency. The company’s tests are also used to collect data and knowledge on how to make cars adequately safe for general use on public roads.

Nissan hopes to use the technology for their Oppama plant by 2019, after which if it does prove highly beneficial, to implement it in the rest of their factories across the world. However, at this point, the company still has to resolve the various issues of the self-driving technology. During the media demonstration event, one car did have some troubles as it refused to move.

Nissan quickly acknowledged the issue, with Kazuhiro Doi, vice-president of the company, stating these types of glitches are unique challenges to the self-driving car technology which removes the human drivers for mechanical operations.

Currently, at their Oppama Plant, Nissan only has two self-driving Leaf cars. However, in order to autonomously tow all the vehicles produced there, the company needs another five such vehicles. Also, at this point, human drivers are still required to get into each towed vehicle to drive them up to their specified wharf.

The driverless towing tests taken place in Japan is the results of Nissan’s partnership with Renault SA of France. Although a media demonstration was only recent made available, the cars started towing operations since last year.

What do you think about Nissan’s towing tests using self-driving cars?

Image source: Wikimedia

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.