Japan Big 3 to Jointly Develop Self-Driving Cars

Stephen Elmer
by Stephen Elmer
IRVINE, Calif. (August 27, 2013) - Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced that the company will be ready with multiple, commercially-viable Autonomous Drive vehicles by 2020. Nissan announced that the company's engineers have been carrying out intensive research on the technology for years, alongside teams from the world's top universities, including MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie…

Japan’s largest automakers are joining forces to work on bringing self-driving cars to the public.

The Japanese government has planned a self-driving car consortium that will include local universities and large electronics companies along with Honda, Toyota and Nissan. They will come together to discuss standardizing and developing self-driving car technology as Japan is pushing to catch up with Germany and the U.S. in the self-driving car arena.

SEE ALSO: Where are Self-Driving Cars Legal?

The first step of the process will be for all parties to establish standardized parts and software to make communal development cheaper and easier. Communication links will also need to be common technology so they can be protected against hackers. Building actual infrastructure, like in-road systems that communicate with cars, will be outsourced to private companies.

As competition in the self-driving field intensifies globally, Japan wants to make sure that its automakers are well equipped to compete.

[Source: Nikkei]

Discuss this story at our Toyota Forum

Stephen Elmer
Stephen Elmer

Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>

More by Stephen Elmer

Comments
Join the conversation
Next