The announcements continue to pour in from CES 2018, with Nissan revealing a partnership with NASA’s Ames Research Center located in Silicon Valley to collaborate on advancements in autonomous driving technology. This five-year research and development agreement extends the ongoing relationship between the two organizations. At last year’s CES, Nissan unveiled its Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM) platform for overseeing autonomous fleets, which is based on NASA technology. This new collaboration aims to build upon that initial achievement.
According to Nissan, this partnership is part of their broader initiative to promote Nissan Intelligent Mobility. This initiative encompasses three interconnected areas: autonomous driving, electrification, and infrastructure technology.
Maarten Sierhuis, the Director of the Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley, commented, “We developed SAM using technology NASA created for managing interplanetary rovers navigating unpredictable terrains. Our aim is to implement SAM to assist third-party organizations in safely integrating fleets of autonomous vehicles into unpredictable urban settings, such as ride-hailing, public transit, or logistics and delivery services. The final phase of our current research agreement with NASA will bring us closer to achieving this goal and will include testing SAM in actual demonstrations on public roads.”
NASA has also expressed excitement about the collaboration. Eugene Tu, Director of NASA’s Ames Facility, stated, “One of NASA’s strategic objectives is to transfer developed technologies to enhance NASA’s missions and programs into broader commercial and societal uses. Leveraging NASA’s advancements in robotics to expedite the rollout of autonomous mobility services exemplifies how significant efforts in space exploration can also lead to breakthroughs here on Earth.”
Additionally, a promotional video has been released to showcase the SAM program and the partnership between Nissan and NASA. This collaboration is anticipated to yield innovative developments that will generate discussions at CES for years ahead.
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