Self-driving car in Japan in 2017 and ready for 2020 Olympics?

The Japanese Cabinet Office’s Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program is funding 3D map programs, part of an effort to have self-driving cars on the road before the start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.

From ExtremeTech:



The 2017 Nissan Serena minivan will be the first Japanese car with autonomous driving. It arrives in August. The Nissan ProPilot system provides self-driving at speeds suited for Japanese roads, between 30 and 100 kph, or 19 to 62 mph. It will follow the vehicle in front, slow to a stop then come to speed again, stay centered in lane, and deal with cut-ins, the cars that squeeze into the space between you and the car in front.

Nissan ProPilot uses both radar and camera systems. It’s partnering with Israel’s MobileEye, which provides much of the technology behind Tesla Autopilot, as well as systems by GM, BMW, and Volvo. Speaking of Autopilot, Nissan at its press conference today in Yokohama made clear what ProPilot can and cannot do, including no lane changes. That comes in 2018.



link: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/231642-first-self-driving-japanese-car-2017-nissan-serena-with-propilot

**Note separately

Walmart granted patent that could bring self-driving shopping carts to its stores



The job of "cart retriever" could be threatened:


The system could manage the entire shopping cart inventory, moving them around as needed. It would replace the jobs of the cart retrievers who currently walk to shopping cart corrals and move long trains of empty carts back to store entrances.