Overview
- Reporters rode in a Nissan Ariya prototype that followed a set route through Tokyo for about 40 minutes without the driver touching the wheel or pedals.
- The car handled narrow lanes, blind turns, worker-directed one-way flow, pedestrians, cyclists, and highway merges in unstaged traffic.
- Nissan executive Tetsuya Iijima said the next ProPilot, called AI-Drive, now matches or beats a human driver in performance.
- The system uses end-to-end AI with 11 cameras, five radar units, and a lidar sensor to predict other road users and choose cautious but natural moves.
- Nissan says the tech is technically Level 4 but will be sold as “L2++” for legal and liability reasons, with Japan planned as the first market and timelines that include a 2027 target, an Elgrand debut reported for early 2028, and a Tokyo robotaxi pilot later this year.