Renault-Nissan to launch vehicles with autonomous tech by 2020

The group plans to offer more than 10 models with autonomous drive technology by the end of the decade. The group said the cars would be available in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China.

Officials said a third vehicle under the Datsun brand will be launched during 2016 and a new model under Nissan badge is also on the anvil.

Autonomous drive will further reduce driver error, which is responsible for up to 90 percent of all fatalities.

The plan kicks off this year with ‘single-lane control’ – essentially an advanced cruise control that includes automated acceleration, braking and lane-keeping in moving and stop-and-go traffic.

In 2018, the Renault-Nissan Alliance will launch vehicles with “multiple-lane control”, allowing them to change lanes and avoid hazards without any driver input.

2020 will see the introduction of an “intersection autonomy” system that allows the auto to automatically drive through intersections and in heavy urban traffic.

“Renault-Nissan Alliance is deeply committed to the twin goals of ‘zero emissions and zero fatalities”, Ghosn said. Alongside this, new connectivity applications will launch to provide increase smartphone integration.

And from 2018, the Alliance Connectivity & Internet of Things platform will support the new Virtual Personal Assistant feature for individual and business customers.

The alliance of France’sRenault SA and Japan’sNissan, led by co-Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, has been more definitive than other auto makers about when it will sell an autonomous vehicle to the public. The intensifying focus on self-driving technology reflects a belief that people would rather be texting, checking Facebook, reading, or watching videos instead of having to spend so much of their time tediously steering and braking on increasingly congested roads.

Renault-Nissan’s agenda doesn’t represent a huge breakthrough.

The Renault-Nissan alliance plant in Oragadam near Chennai has manufactured its one millionth vehicle. The companies, which have been strategic partners since 1999, sold 8.5 million vehicles in almost 200 countries in 2014.