Self-driving technology isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. It has existed in some form or the other, since many years now. However, the cohesive push that we have been seeing in the past few years, has only been possible due to the growth of the infrastructural framework along with the processing power required and the other tech-developments.
Rising accident rates & resulting fatalities are a prime reason for governments to finally wake up to the problems. They have taken to encouraging car majors into developing driver aids & improved engineering solutions that’d make things safer for everyone out on the road. Manufacturers on their part, are in-fact, locked in an intense race to completely replace the human element from behind the wheel, with autonomous cars that’d be remotely piloted via smart technological solutions. This, they say, would not only reduce accidents & resulting losses, but it would also lead to more efficient mobility for everyone.
Nissan’s ProPILOT autonomous drive technology, is in-fact, not just the most current, but is indeed, the most advanced system that’s actually available today. The basic premise of the system is to regulate vehicle speed in relation to the vehicle preceding it. It has been designed with the purpose of reducing driver stress during highway driving conditions.
The Nissan ProPILOT is being touted as the world’s first fully automated control system involving the steering, accelerator & brakes by a Japanese auto-manufacturer. It’s working can be explained as follows:
- It maintains a driver pre-set speed for the vehicle, even when there’s no preceding vehicle. This speed range is between, 30-100 km/h.
- It helps maintain necessary distance between the vehicle preceding it. The ProPILOT autonomous drive technology, will in-fact deploy & hold the brakes, should the vehicle in front of it stop during heavy traffic conditions.
- Lastly, it helps keep the car within the lane markings on either side, maintaining this level of steering control, even as the vehicle goes around corners.
The entire system works around a smart-camera mounted high up, which identifies the side markers and the vehicle in front. It then sends this information to the ECU which processes it to then identify possible course of action & deploy the necessary controls. Thus, depending upon the situation, the electric parking brakes, electronic power-steering and brake controls could be activated accordingly. This self-driving technology is currently available only in Japan.
Nissan hopes that the system shall be developed enough to go from its current single-lane highway system, to multi-lane highway setups by 2018. It then estimates taking it mainstream, so as to help motorists navigate their way around intersections, without major inputs from the one behind the wheel. The future looks increasingly bright for those looking forward to a using autonomous cars.
