Nissan Unveils New Systems at Oppama Media Event
IVsource.net
29 December 2003

During the week of December 8^th, Nissan’s Oppama Test Track -- adjacent to their R&D Center -- played host to demonstrations of some of their latest intelligent vehicle technology.  Vehicles with  Low-Speed Adaptive Cruise Control, active safety systems, and advanced propulsion technology were shown to journalists from print and television media outlets.  Event organizers were pleased with the media response, noting articles in Automotive News and the Associated Press, as well as extensive coverage by the Japanese domestic media.  Here’s a run-down on the systems shown.

During the week of December 8^th, Nissan’s Oppama Test Track -- located adjacent to their R&D Center in Yokosuka, Japan -- played host to demonstrations of some of their latest intelligent vehicle technology.  Both active safety systems and advanced propulsion technology were shown to journalists from print and television media outlets.  Event organizers were pleased with the media response, noting articles in Automotive News and the Associated Press, as well as extensive coverage by the Japanese domestic media. 

Low Speed ACC

Applications of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) for low speed situations (such as traffic jams) have been extensively researched and tested by the vehicle industry over recent years.  In stop-and-go traffic, aspects of basic system requirements come into question that do not arise in flowing highway traffic.  For instance, if the traffic ahead stops, should the system also slow the vehicle to a full stop?  And as the traffic ahead moves forward again, should the system automatically re-start the vehicle?  If so, what if a pedestrian steps into the path of the vehicle?  Such questions have challenged developers to address issues beyond basic “gap maintenance” as is performed by current ACC systems on the market.

Nissan’s low speed ACC solution is essentially a car-follower which maintains a driver-selectable inter-vehicle gap at speeds between 5 and 45 km/hr (3 and 27 mph).  The driver does not select a specific velocity as in highway-speed ACC.  Their approach to handling the questions above is to leave the stop/start decisions up to the driver, and the LS-ACC must be re-engaged after each stop.

Your IVsource editor drove the LS-ACC car behind a lead vehicle which accelerated / decelerated just as would occur in a traffic jam.  I selected the smallest gap setting to assess whether drivers would  “cut-in” to the gap in typical traffic in the US – don’t think so, it was about the gap size I would normally maintain in such traffic.  I was also surprised to experience just how slow 5 km/hr actually feels – it is basically a crawl.  So, I believe future customers “crawling” in traffic with such systems, while they might prefer a system that also does the stop/start function, will gain significant use and “relief” from the hassles of traffic jamming with such a first-generation LS-ACC.  This is particularly true given the resources available to them now -- i.e., no help at all.

The word is that Nissan plans to introduce this system to the Japanese market around the summer of 2004 – which may make it the first LS-ACC on the market worldwide.  BMW recently announced plans to introduce their version (with a somewhat different set of features) in 2005.

Braking Control System for Collision Avoidance Assistance

This system assists the driver’s evasive maneuvers in trying to avoid a collision with a forward obstacle.  A classic case of emergency braking would be a stopped vehicle in the freeway that is obscured from the subject vehicle by the vehicle immediately ahead in traffic.  The preceding vehicle swerves to avoid the stopped vehicle, leaving the driver of the subject vehicle completely unprepared to respond to the stopped vehicle – the result being maximum braking and swerving to avoid the obstacle, which opens the door to loss of control and collisions with other vehicles.

This system combines two key functions:

1. The speed reduction function detects the obstacle (via laser range-finding) and automatically decelerates the vehicle to prevent a collision -- or at least reduce the collision speed.  While the Intelligent Brake Assist (IBA) system (which performs a similar function) is already on the market,  this new system detects obstacles at an earlier point and initiates action sooner so as to more frequently avoid collisions entirely, rather than just reducing impact velocity.

2. The evasive steering assistance function actively controls the brake force at each wheel when the driver swerves to avoid the obstacle ahead, thus enhancing the steering response and overall handling. 

A video provided by Nissan shows these capabilities in action.  Very impressive last-minute braking brings the host vehicle to a stop just a meter or so from the mock obstacle on the test track.  When the demo driver performs an evasive maneuver to the right-hand adjacent lane, the right-hand overshoot is minimized.  In fact, experimental data provided by Nissan showed that steering angle overshoot was reduced on the order of 20 degrees by the evasive steering assistance system.

Future Propulsion

Also available for test drives were two fuel-cell powered vehicles.  Behind the wheel, your reporter found the accel/decel to be exceptionally smooth, as would be expected for an electric vehicle.  Americans who like to “punch” the accelerator for that passing or merging maneuver will have to adapt, however.  

It clearly appears that fuel cell technology is “over the hump” in terms of achieving the basic capability to power everyday cars -- and the worldwide driving public can expect such vehicles to be a part of their future, to everyone’s benefit.

Stay tuned to IVsource's Media Watch for sightings of press coverage of the Nissan demo.

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