Nissan ProPILOT Assist Paves the Way

Seems that almost every discussion we have today regarding the world of the car ultimately devolves into a debate as to whether or not fully-autonomous driving is just around the corner, or eons away. The debates are often spirited but without conclusion and that’s fine, but this doesn’t have to be a black-and-white discussion. Indeed, when we consider the semi-autonomous systems available in the world today such as Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist (PPA) tech, one can see just how much has changed. We still need to have our eyes on our road and our hands and feet on the controls, but that’s only part of the story.

Essentially, what PPA does is take many Nissan models’ intelligent adaptive cruise control and steer assist technologies and combines them to help you bring your car to a full stop and then have it start again without ever having to touch the pedals. This is especially helpful in stop-and-go rush hour traffic as it can lead to much less driver fatigue since they don’t have to be constantly working the pedals.

Of course, don’t think that once you’re free of the rush hour grind PPA’s duties are done; far from it. With PPA with Navi-link, the system can look “down the road” through your navigation instructions and help you reduce speed through turns and on/off ramps. It will even help drivers adjust to the speed limit with the Speed Limit Assist feature.

It all activates with the press of a wheel-mounted button and depends on cameras and radar sensors; there’s a camera at the top of the windscreen (right behind the mirror) as well as a radar sensor looking forward. Keep in mind that the latter is often hidden within the car’s grille badge and if it gets dirty or frosty, it may malfunction, so keep it clean. The same goes for the camera; when scraping frost of your windscreen, be sure to cover the area not just in your line of sight, but that of the camera as well.

So there you have it – the future of autonomous driving, today.

Sort of.