The first vehicle will be tested at NASA by 2015 year-end, while 2020 has been set as the year to introduce these vehicles to the public. The organisations will come together for a five-year R&D partnership to build cars for our planet and rovers for Mars. The autonomous vehicles will be capable of navigating in “nearly all situations.” Google, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have already entered the “robot car” race.
NASA already knows a lot about autonomous rovers, thanks to Curiosity and Opportunity, but it is looking to learn more about the software and hardware of running self-driven cars.
“All of our potential topics of research collaboration with Nissan are areas in which Ames has strongly contributed to major NASA programs,” said director of Ames Research Center, S. Pete Worden. “Ames developed Mars rover planning software, robots onboard the International Space Station and Next Generation air traffic management systems to name a few. We look forward to applying knowledge developed during this partnership toward future space and aeronautics endeavours.”
Nissan will look to learn more about system durability and human-machine interface. “The work of NASA and Nissan — with one directed to space and the other directed to earth, is connected by similar challenges,” said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co. “The partnership will accelerate Nissan’s development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that we will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020.”
“This is a perfect blend of the capability of what the robotics folks at NASA Ames have and the autonomy that we bring,” said Maarten Sierhuis, the director of Nissan’s Silicon Valley research center, who also spent ten years as a NASA senior scientist. “The timing is right because we are ready to start testing the ability to autonomously navigate city streets, which the automaker has pledged to have in cars on the market by 2020, and NASA can help it do that.”
Google already showcased its first prototype of a self-driven car, and are also aiming to release the first commercial product by 2020.
