Nissan reveals its progress in the development of SAE Level 4 technology, having let its prototype navigate without a driver in complex traffic for the first time in Japan.
The prototype is based on the Nissan Serena minivan and features nine radars, fourteen cameras and six lidar sensors, using its height to get a fuller picture of the traffic around it.
Nissan currently plans to launch its first commercial service for paying passengers in 2027 after more testing, but the automaker has not detailed the full scale of its planned deployment.
Japan has been eager to take advantage of robotaxi technology for quite some time, citing driver shortages amid an aging population, but SAE Level 4 tech has not seen a commercial rollout in the country despite the development work conducted over the past few years.
This could change in the coming years as Nissan readies a driverless minivan that could serve as the basis of a robotaxi fleet.
The SAE Level 4 prototype, based on the Nissan Serena, saw its first demo drive with no driver behind the wheel, marking an important milestone in Nissan’s autonomous efforts.
“For the first time in Japan, a test vehicle with no driver in the car has navigated a public road in a complex urban environment,” the company noted.
The Nissan Serena minivan has been equipped with no fewer than nine radars, 14 cameras, and six lidar sensors, and the van was chosen in part for its height, giving sensors a wider field of vision compared to sedan-based prototypes.
Nissan has been working on autonomous technology for some time, including at its Nissan Advanced Technology Center in Silicon Valley, though this is the first driverless demonstration drive of an SAE Level 4 minivan in its home country. The tech on board is of Nissan’s own development, rather than a partner developer’s, with Nissan being one of a small number of automakers who’ve invested in their own proprietary autonomous driving system.
“In addition, the use of AI has significantly enhanced recognition, behavioral prediction and judgment as well as control, delivering smooth operation in a variety of complex scenarios,” Nissan added.
The roof of the Serena minivan carries most of the sensors on the vehicle, but Nissan has also experimented with a smaller hatchback. Nissan
The near-term goal for Nissan’s efforts is to launch a mobility service in Japan. But getting there will take some time, with Nissan revealing more demonstration tests with a larger fleet of about 20 vehicles that will take place in Yokohama this year and in 2026.
The actual launch of Nissan’s commercial service is now expected to take place in 2027, noting that remote monitoring will be part of any commercial fleet. And this part of the operations, in addition to vehicle service, will still take some time to set up even on a relatively limited scale as we’ve seen with other robotaxi fleets.
So Nissan isn’t rushing to field hundreds or thousands of these robotaxis right away.
But it’s also not alone in planning for robotaxi fleets in Japan.
Waymo is eyeing the Japan market as well, or at least some areas of Tokyo, having recently taken its first international “road trip” as the company called it, that includes mapping efforts in several chosen neighborhoods.
But the US robotaxi industry leader is still far from a commercial launch in Japan, we should note. And so is Nissan.
Will robotaxis become common in the US after 2030, or will it remain a relatively niche technology even then? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
