Henderson Nissan on 2040-cars

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Nissan promising autonomous car production by 2020

Nissan will bring the autonomous car to consumers by the end of this decade. The announcement was made by CEO Carlos Ghosn at the company's US headquarters in Irvine, CA. Nissan has already begun construction of a dedicated proving ground for the self-driving cars in Japan, with completion targeted for the end of 2014.
Teaming with MIT, Stanford, Oxford and others, Nissan has already outfitted Leaf EVs with the Autonomous Drive (Nissan's brand name for the tech), a suite of new technologies developed from the brand's existing Safety Shield technology. The current iteration of Autonomous Drive uses the Around-View Monitoring system and laser scanners to analyze the environment, while artificial intelligence systems have been installed to help navigate and operate in a changing environment.
While it's easy to say that Nissan will bring the technology to market within the next six or seven years, it's more difficult to say at what price Autonomous Drive will be available. Most remarkable about all of this is Nissan's claim that self-driving cars will be both commercially viable and available at "realistic prices for consumers." It's expecting Autonomous Drive to be available across its range within two vehicle generations.

Renault and Nissan forge deeper alliance

If the automotive industry's current era could be summarized by one trend - from a corporate aspect, anyway - surely it would be conglomeration. But of all the major auto groups that have emerged over the past several years, none have kept themselves at arm's length quite like the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
Much like Fiat and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan are presided over by a common chief executive. But whereas Sergio Marchionne's Italian-American alliance has moved swiftly from a transatlantic partnership to a merged company in the span of less than five years, Carlos Ghosn's Franco-Japanese alliance has stood oceans apart since 1999. But now the Renault-Nissan Alliance is following the lead set by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in bridging that distance through several key measures.
For one, Renault and Nissan will make increased use of common platforms, R&D, systems and testing. The two automakers will also cooperate more closely on manufacturing and supply chain management, purchasing and human resources. To manage the increased cooperation, the alliance has appointed several new executive vice presidents from within its ow ranks and a new management committee to be chaired by Ghosn, details about which you can read in the press release below.

2013 Nissan Pathfinder: February 2013

I took the keys to our long-term 2013 Nissan Pathfinder from Editor-in-Chief Neff (who left me with an empty gas tank, for the record) directly following the Detroit Auto Show. That means that, by the time you all read this, I'll have been in possession of the Pathfinder for more time, and driven it more miles than any Autoblogger so far. I'd like to think that I've made good use of it... with one small exception.
For those of you that live outside of the Snow Belt and who may routinely ignore the Weather Channel out of cocky certainty - I'm looking at you, American Southwest - there's been some real weather in our part of the world this winter. A year ago, I'd basically packed up my shovel and my driveway salt by Valentine's Day; while the last quarter of 2012 and beginning of 2013 have seen back-wrenching piles of snow fall on and around my Michigan home. Good times, in other words, to test the all-weather capabilities of our all-wheel-drive Pathfinder.