Renault and Nissan Will Share Technology for Autonomous Driving

"It is common asset and a common technology of Renault-Nissan," said Takao Asami, who is vice president of research and advanced engineering for the alliance. "How it is applied, meaning which regions and which models, is up to each company's product planning."

Nissan debuted the IDS Concept hatchback at the Tokyo auto show on Oct. 28. The Leaf-based car has technologies Nissan is developing in its push to roll out increasingly sophisticated autonomously driving cars in the next five years, with major steps planned for 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Nissan will start its push by launching technology that allows autonomous driving in heavy highway traffic. This feature will be called Piloted Drive 1.0 and will be available in Japan by the end of next year.

Nissan’s home market will get the technology first because the majority of the development team is based there, which make it easier to react if there is a problem, Asami said. Piloted Drive 1.0 would not require any changes to current driving regulations, he said.

After the Japan launch the technology will be rolled out in Europe, China and the U.S., Nissan said last week.

The second step, due in 2018 and called Piloted Drive 2.0, allows automatic lane changing on the highway. Piloted Drive 3.0, which is scheduled to launch in 2020, will allow Nissan’s cars to negotiate city intersections without driver intervention.

Asami said Piloted Drive 2.0 and 3.0 would require changes to the rules governing driving because they would make hands-free operation of the vehicle a reality.

Renault's 3-step plan

In March, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn used the Mobile World Congress in Spain to announce a similar three-step rollout of the technology by Renault. Ghosn said that by 2016 Renault plans to sell cars that can autonomously drive in traffic jams. Renault has not revealed yet which market will get the technology first.

By 2018, Renault also will offer vehicles that can drive autonomously on highways, Ghosn said in March, adding that by 2020 there will be Renault cars capable of driving themselves in city traffic.

Renault showed its vision of an autonomous electric vehicle in 2014 with the debut of the Next Two prototype, which is based on the Zoe EV.

Renault-Nissan has been chasing autonomous driving since August 2013, when Ghosn announced plans to have cars with self-driving technologies in multiple vehicles by 2020.

Renault-Nissan’s push comes as traditional automakers face new high-tech rivals from Silicon Valley that are leveraging their expertise in software to develop the advanced electronics needed for the systems.