The head of Nissan-Renault alliance, Carlos Ghosn revealed that driverless cars could be on road as early as 2018, provided there is appropriate legislation.
Driverless or self-driving cars are the new sensation of the tech world. While, Google has long been making the headlines for its timely achievements in the innovative category, other automobile companies have joined the bandwagon. The deployment of driverless technology into cars has widely been seen as a controversial subject but the car makers continue to develop and experiment ways to bring autonomous vehicles into the market sooner than later.
With no specific dates available for the commercial launch of driverless vehicles, head of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn, shared some insights on the subject while speaking at a French Automobile Club event, Tuesday.
"The problem isn't technology, it's legislation, and the whole question of responsibility that goes with these cars moving around ... and especially who is responsible once there is no longer anyone inside," Ghosn said, according to Reuters.
Ghosn also shortlisted the first countries to ever see the technology deployed in cars, which include France, Japan and the United States, followed by a further wide availability in other European countries by 2020. Renault, for one, has been working closely with the developing technology in its Next 2 prototype version of its electric Zoe model. The prototype can automatically control the vehicle without driver's assistance at speeds below 30km/hour. It uses GPS positioning, cameras and sensors to direct its way safely on roads.
Google and other luxury brand car makers have also shared similar timeframes for the driverless cars to hit the roads. Last month, Google showed off its first self-driven prototype car without standard driving controls such as steering, gas and brake pedals. The car has sensors all around to cover blind spots and the web giant was able to tap 25 mph in its closed circuits.
Google already has its self-driving cars being tested on roads, but with a driver sitting behind the wheel. The company recently announced that its autonomous vehicles have logged nearly 700,000 miles and more than 10,000 of it has been run on city streets.
In addition to Nissan and Google, other car makers such as GM and Ford are expected to launch cars with driverless technology on roads by 2020 and 2016, respectively.
