Nissan to begin testing autonomous vehicles in Europe next month

Nissan is to begin real-world demonstrations of autonomous driving cars in the UK next month.

Showcasing next-generation technology through a modified Nissan Leaf electric car, the on-road demonstrations will take place in London, enabling the vehicles and their passengers to cover a diverse city environment.

Passengers, including government officials and technical and safety experts, will get a chance to experience and test the technology in a live environment. These will be the first demonstrations of Nissan’s autonomous drive technology on public roads in Europe, representing the next step in Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility blueprint for transforming how cars are driven, powered, and integrated into wider society.

The development follows recent announcements that both the refreshed Qashqai and the new Leaf will be equipped with autonomous drive technology to enable single-lane autonomous driving on motorways.

The announcement was made following a visit to the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, by the Rt Hon Greg Clark, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

NTCE, the European R&D hub for Nissan, is developing autonomous drive technologies as well as new advanced fuel, energy and efficiency technologies, in collaboration with the Nissan Technical Centre and Advanced Technical Centre in Japan.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: "Government and industry are working together to build on our world class reputation for excellence as a leading location for automotive R&D and manufacturing. We want to see centres, like Nissan's here in Cranfield, continue to develop, making us a world leader in the development and testing of auto technology so we can anchor the next generation of vehicle manufacturing and its supply chain here in the UK." 

Last year marked Nissan’s 30^th anniversary in the UK, with employment in Nissan’s UK technical centre, design studio (Paddington, London), manufacturing plant (Sunderland, Tyne and Wear) and sales and marketing operations (Maple Cross, Hertfordshire) now totalling more than 8,000. A further 28,000 jobs in Nissan’s UK supply chain and 4,000 in its UK dealer network takes the total British jobs supported by Nissan to more than 40,000.