Motorists could go hands-free, leaving their cars’ computer brains fully in charge, as early as 2020, when Nissan says it plans to have a self-driving vehicle ready for the market.
The Japanese automaker yesterday said that its “revolutionary” self-drive technology could be ready by then, and that it is already building a synthetic cityscape of real roads and buildings for testing the vehicles.
“I am committing to be ready to introduce a new ground-breaking technology, Autonomous Drive, by 2020, and we are on track to realize it,” Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said.
Photo: AFP / Nissan
Nissan, which broke ground in 2010 with the introduction of its Leaf fully electric small car, said it is aiming to build a self-driving car that can be sold at “realistic prices.”
“The goal is availability across the model range within two vehicle generations,” the company said in a statement.
Nissan said it is already testing how to extend its Safety Shield technology, which uses a 360? system of cameras and sensors to help drivers park and avoid collisions. Autonomous Drive would enhance safety and accident avoidance, and allow drivers who spend hundreds of hours commuting every year to make more productive use of their time.
It will also give the elderly and disabled much more freedom and mobility, the company said.
Nissan next year will complete the construction of a proving ground for self-driving cars in Japan.
“Featuring real townscapes — masonry, not mock-ups — it will be used to push vehicle testing beyond the limits possible on public roads to ensure the technology is safe,” the company said.
Separately, Honda’s Chinese unit is recalling 408,000 sport utility vehicles to repair a defective shock absorber rod in a new setback in China for Japanese automakers.
Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co will recall Siwei CR-V vehicles made between March 2, 2010, and Aug. 30 last year, the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said yesterday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained