Nissan and NASA announced this week that they're teaming up to create advanced technology behind cars that will drive autonomously.
The Japanese automaker and NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, said on Thursday that the two reached a five-year research-and-development partnership for self-driving vehicles so that they can eventually be applied to commercially sold cars.
Nissan said it's excited about the partnership and the thought of commercial self-driving vehicles, which should improve driver safety.
NASA researchers will be working alongside Nissan's research unit in Silicon Valley, according to a joint statement.
Some customers will need convincing though due to concerns over insurance implications and safety.
"When we talk about autonomous drive, we're transforming the relationship between the driver and the car from a master to slave, to a kind of partner we gain time, we gain knowledge, we gain expertise," said Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn in a company statement. "That's what the whole this is about moving as fast as we can."
The Yokohama-based company, which is known for its Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models, is hoping to introduce self-driving technology to customers sometime between 2016 and 2020.
The safety technology in development includes vehicles that know they are about to collide and will brake automatically, even if the driver doesn't do a thing, thanks to sensors.
There are also vehicles that are capable of parking themselves.
Ames is responsible for creating the Mars rover software and robots on the International Space Station.
"The more we look at it, the more there are a lot of similarities there," said Pete Worden, director of the Ames Research Center in a press statement. "We have a rover on Mars. It is not very autonomous. As we go deeper into space, into more and more dangerous locations, we need to add that autonomy."
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