Nissan Partners With NASA on Self-Driving Technology

Just one day after we reported about Ford’s interest in getting involved in the ride-sharing industry, Nissan is reportedly jumping into the transportation industry without a driver. While Ford wanted to compete with Uber and Lyft, Nissan is reportedly interested in providing vehicles to taxi organizations. However, the big twist for Nissan is that those taxi vehicles would be self-driving.

Uber made headlines a few weeks ago for their decision to partner with Carnegie Mellon University to research self-driving technology and robotics. With Uber working on developing their own self-driving technology with a team of at least 50 for the, “development of key long-term technologies that advance Uber’s mission of bringing safe, reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere.”

Meanwhile Google is reportedly working on a ride-sharing app that may currently be in use by its employees. Google has already showed off their self-driving vehicle in a demonstration in May of 2014 and stated that they don’t want to get into the auto manufacturing business. Where then does Nissan’s venture fit into the equation?

Nissan might be the first automaker to make self-driving Taxis. After all, Nissan can shoot for the stars since they’ve decided to partner with NASA. The two organizations are coming together to research self-driving tech. A NASA press release on the subject indicates the agreement between the two organizations …”initiates cooperative research and development of algorithms, concepts and integrated prototypes for self-driving cars.” If a self-driving partnership with NASA sounds familiar that’s because Google already has one.

Both Google and Nissan will conduct self-driving vehicle testing at NASA’s 2000-acre Ames Field during the next few years. The two companies also have different approaches to self-driving tech. Google has used 3D mapping to get their self-driving vehicles around Mountain View, CA. The maps that the computerized vehicles use are meticulously detailed. However Nissan is doing something different, and less detailed. They are working on what is called, “sparse maps.” Basically Nissan wants to see just how much info is needed on mapping software for self-driving cars.

IEEE Spectrum looked into the Nissan self-driving car rumor and obtained documents, which reportedly show that Nissan wants to have a self-driving prototype operating inside of two years. This shouldn’t come as a surprise for two reasons. First, Nissan is already a Taxi maker, as they make the NV 200, the “taxi of tomorrow.” And secondly, The CEO of Nissan said back on June 6th of 2014 that by 2018 in France, Japan and the U.S. self-driving vehicles from Nissan could be on the roads.