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Ghosn predicts autonomous cars on the roads by 2018, if laws allow

Things appear to be going well inside Nissan's autonomous vehicle development program. Until now, the automaker believed that self-driving cars would be ready for major markets like the US by 2020. However, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is now speeding up that prediction to 2018 in some places, assuming that local laws are ready to accept the computer-controlled vehicles.
"The problem isn't technology, it's legislation, and the whole question of responsibility that goes with these cars moving around," said Ghosn in a speech in France recorded by Reuters. He predicted that the first sales could begin in France, Japan and the US by 2018 and expand elsewhere in 2020.
The alliance has been among the forefront of automakers working on self-driving cars. Nissan has an autonomous Leaf (pictured above) test car that is licensed to drive on Japanese roads. Renault showed off an version of its Zoe EV earlier this year called the Next Two, that could pilot itself at speeds up to 18 miles per hour, and that the company predicted would be ready by 2020.

Nissan recalling 13k Versa Note hatchbacks

Nissan is recalling 13,000 of its new 2014 Versa Note hatchbacks due to an issue with various bolts used to assemble the vehicle. Considering the Versa Note was only recently put on sale, this news must be driving Nissan nuts (we couldn't resist), but presumably the lion's share of these vehicles are still at dealerships.
According to a report from The Detroit News, there are two separate issues. The first has to do with the latches for the rear seats, which include bolts that may not be strong enough to keep the seats upright in the event of a crash. The second relates to the bolts that attach the body to the undercarriage. Apparently they may not have been tightened properly, and in rare cases may be missing altogether. No injuries or accidents have been reported from either issue.
Owners are being told to report to dealers for the fixes, with notifications coming in mid-August.

Nissan gives us the business on the art of clay modeling

The team from The Dashboard recently stopped by the Nissan Technical Center in Japan for a look at what exactly goes into creating a full-scale clay model. While automakers have been using clay bucks for decades, designers and engineers are now combining computer renderings and hand-sculpted clay models to determine how a new vehicle will look in our world. Engineers use specially formulated clay kept warm in an oven to bring the body panels to life. They then coat the clay in a thin plastic film to add body color for the final look.
By the time everything is said and done, workers may have hundreds of hours in the model's creation. So, what happens when the company no longer needs the buck? They get scrapped. Someone comes in and dismantles the whole creation. We presume that action is set to the wailing tears of everyone who had a hand in building the model. Check out the video below for a closer look.