If you're considering financing a new Nissan shortly, the latest round of European road testing may reveal some extra vehicle possibilities. Nissan has revealed that it will begin testing driverless vehicles on public roads in London this month.

Vehicle Evaluation:

The testing will take place on a modified Leaf, allowing safety and technical specialists, as well as government officials, to evaluate the technology in a real-world situation. The testing program will be the first in Europe to demonstrate Nissan's autonomous technology on public roads. This is viewed as the logical progression of Nissan's Intelligent Mobility design goal. This vision aims to revolutionize not only how automobiles are driven and fueled, but also how they are integrated into our larger society. Whereas semi-autonomous and autonomous cars do not always recognise and react to high-risk occurrences in real-time. dRISK has been recording 'edge cases' – high-risk accidents – and simulating them to determine how the AV would respond.

Nissan's Future Plans:

Nissan revealed in 2016 that the 2017 Qashqai, which is one of the best-selling vehicles in the UK, will be the first Nissan model in Europe to have Nissan's ProPilot semi-autonomous driving technology. The all-new Nissan Qashqai is scheduled to debut later this year. The ProPilot technology suite enables vehicles to be safely driven autonomously in a single lane, even in high-volume highway traffic. Additionally, the next-generation Nissan Leaf EV will have this technology.

According to Greg Clark, the UK's secretary of business and energy, industry and government are collaborating to further Nissan's good reputation as a leader in automotive manufacturing and research and development. Clark stated that they would like to see other facilities similar to Nissan's Cranfield location grow to "anchor the next generation" of vehicle manufacturing and supply.

Nissan will join Volvo in conducting autonomous vehicle trials in London. The Swedish firm said in May that it would be utilising members of the public to test autonomous versions of Volvo automobiles as part of their upcoming "Drive Me London" campaign. Volvo has also been a pioneer in the southern hemisphere in terms of autonomous technology trials. In March 2016, the brand used Adelaide's roads as a testing ground for autonomous XC90s as part of the Driverless Vehicle Initiative.

If you're considering purchasing a new vehicle or exploring Nissan auto financing alternatives, you should contact us. Duncan Nissan's sales team will be delighted to organise a test drive and discuss Nissan's auto financing options.