Smarter Cars, Smarter Driving
Nissan drew crowds of curious travelers with an immersive demonstration of its Invisible-to-Visible technology at CES 2019. This future-state technology will leverage sensored infrastructure and the “Metaverse” to enhance the driver’s experience behind the wheel.
“Our technology taps into the cloud and enables you to see what you couldn’t see before,” said Passe. “What was invisible – such as parking spots, traffic jams, the way that a professional driver drives the road – you will actually see. There’s even an option to have an Avatar driver in front of you so you can follow it along the road. It will require a lot of infrastructure – and collaboration from entities beyond just Nissan – because when you're seeing things out on the road in the middle of a traffic jam, you need sensors everywhere. But there's a lot of opportunity there to really bring holistic technology to the driver.”
Intelligent Mobility
While several years away, Invisible-to-Visible tech represents the latest evolution of Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility – the company’s vision for how cars are powered, driven and integrated into society. According to Passe, today’s consumers can experience this vision in action in the new Nissan Leaf:
“The Leaf is our icon of Nissan Intelligent Mobility. It's now available with two powertrains: a 40-kilowatt hour powertrain or a 62-kilowatt hour power train. So you have different ranges, different miles, and different price points. So the customer can really customize their Leaf experience.”
Engine Equilibrium
Nissan’s VC-Turbo Engine also was designed to give consumers a greater range of vehicle performance options. Available in the 2019 Nissan Altima and Infinity QX50, the VC-Turbo changes the actual displacement of the engine itself with a fixed area that enables drivers to have not only the efficiency of a high compression engine but the power of a lower compression engine along with forced induction. What does this mean for the driver?
“It gives you a big engine feel in a small package,” said Passe. “There used to be a compromise between, ‘Oh, I need a big power engine’ and ‘I need a big efficiency engine.’ With this VC-Turbo technology, you are able to combine the two. “
Useful Tech
Passe emphasized that Nissan is committed to developing the most useful technology possible and introducing it in its most popular models. This is good news for business travelers who rent a Nissan equipped with ProPILOT technology, which provides single-lane semiautonomous driving.
“Traffic can be very stressful. Driving in new towns can be stressful. With ProPILOT, the lane centering technology will keep you well within the lines and maintain set distances forward and back. Essentially, it can make business travel more efficient by reducing stress and easing the driver’s workload behind the wheel,” said Passe.
Another key component of Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility is Safety Shield 360, a comprehensive safety and security platform designed to improve safety and the overall driving experience.
The Future
“Innovation and excitement for everybody.” is Nissan’s tagline. But according to Passe, innovation is driving that excitement: “It's proving to our customers that we don't stop moving. You have to continue to move, you have to continue to adapt. You have to continue to provide services and experiences for customers that they can't find other places. And at Nissan, we are honored to be able to do that.”
