Nissan Motor Co. plans to market an autonomous car in China sometime after 2017 as part of a global plan to commercialize self-driving technology.
The vehicle, the Nissan Serena compact sedan, is equipped with Nissan's ProPilot technology. It can accelerate, brake and steer autonomously when driven in a single lane.
The car will debut in Japan in August, followed by Europe next year, and in China and North America sometime after 2017, according to Nissan.
In 2018, the Japanese automaker plans to launch a self-driving car that can change lanes.
Nissan is the latest carmaker to disclose plans to introduce self-driving vehicles in China.
In April, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. dispatched a small fleet of self-driving cars on a 2,000 kilometer journey to Beijing from its headquarters in Chongqing in southwest China.
The state-owned Chinese carmaker expects to launch sales of self-driving cars in 2018.
During the Beijing auto show in April, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Automotive News China that the company expects to allow Chinese customers to test drive self-driving cars in 2017.
"But to see regular customers buy our self-driving cars, you will have to wait until after 2020," he said.
A group of Chinese internet companies such as Baidu Inc. and LeShi Holdings also plan to roll out driverless vehicles in China in a few years.
Source:Automotive News China