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Nissan's 2018 Leaf is a smarter, longer-lasting EV
Nissan's pure EV Leaf has been largely dominating the electric car market for seven years. So a refresh has been a long time coming. This week the company finally unveiled a vehicle with a higher range, an optional semi-autonomous feature and one-pedal driving. None of this is is necessarily groundbreaking, but after being behind the wheel of a preproduction model in Las Vegas, it's apparent to me that the automobile is ready to take on the latest crop of electric cars.
Nissan's next Leaf is cheaper and can almost drive itself
The Nissan Leaf does pretty well for the automaker. It's one of the best selling EVs ever and today the company introduced a redesigned $29,990 Leaf with ProPilot, a hands-on semi-autonomous feature for heavy traffic. With a 150 mile range and a price about $700 cheaper than it predecessor, Nissan is determined to stay at the top of the electric-vehicle sales-numbers pile.
After Math: Come out and burn
As the current presidential administration keeps trying its best to be America's last, let's take a moment from the existential horror of nuclear annihilation at the hands of the world's other wannabe king and see who's been killing it in tech this week. Game of Thrones roasted way more horses and stuntmen than necessary in the name of VFX (spoilers, duh), Nissan is shelling out nearly another $100 million in hopes that the Takata airbag scandal will just drag itself into the woods and die already, and Facebook quietly took the Groups app out behind the woodshed mere days after axing the teen-targeting Lifestage app. Numbers, because how else are we going to accurately describe the literal decimation of the global human population when this pissing contest is over with?
Infiniti prototype melds a 1940s race car with EV power
As a rule, electric car concepts embrace the future. Even those with a retro flavor are clearly products of the 21st century. Don't tell that to Infiniti, however -- it's going deep into the past. Nissan's luxury badge has unveiled the Prototype 9, an EV whose design unabashedly recalls 1940s race cars (particularly those from Auto Union). And it's not just the long nose, spoked wheels and massive front grille that pay homage -- the prototype was even built using traditional techniques. Inside, of course, it's very much the product of 2017 know-how.
Nissan settles Takata airbags lawsuit for $97.7 million
Earlier this year, we reported that Takata, the Japanese auto parts maker that was charged with criminal fraud for covering up faulty airbags, had agreed to pay a $1 billion settlement after a US federal investigation. This week, Nissan agreed to pay $97.7 million in a class-action settlement due to customers' economic loss because of the recall of 4.4 million vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflators.
Nissan’s door alert honks at you to check the backseat
The last thing you want is to forget items in the back of a car during these relentless summer days. But even with all the technical wizardry found inside modern vehicles, there's really nothing stopping you from just being plain absent-minded. And, before you know it, your car ends up reeking of leftover food or your gym clothes. However, Nissan's new warning system is aimed directly at your backseat.
‘Final Fantasy’ characters are now selling Nissans
Final Fantasy character Lightning has landed herself another ad campaign. She's already hawked Prada and Louis Vuitton and now she's moved from the fashion world to the auto industry. Lightning appears with Snow Villiers -- who was also in the Prada campaign -- in an ad for Nissan.
Nissan preps its semi-autonomous driving assist for the US
Nissan is one step closer to bringing its semi-autonomous ProPilot Assist feature to American roads. The automaker has shed more light on the US-optimized version of the assistant ahead of its launch in the new Leaf near the end of 2017. As Nissan stresses, the initial version is intended only to make life easier during single-lane highway driving. Think of it as a sort of Autopilot lite. It'll use a camera, radar and sensors to keep you in your lane, maintain speed and brake if the driver ahead slows down, but it won't change lanes, handle city streets or brake in an emergency. It's definitely not a hands-free option -- it'll deactivate if you have a less-than-firm grip on the steering wheel.
Nissan teases self-driving features for the next-gen Leaf
The next generation Leaf EV will be the first with ProPilot driver assist in North American and Europe, and Nissan has just showed how that will look. Activated by a button on the steering wheel, it can control steering, braking and acceleration, but only in a single freeway lane. The driver can see exactly what's going on with the aid of a fancy animation front and center in the largely digital dashboard.
Nissan imagines Faraday cages in cars will stop phone use
Despite the many tools developed to help us down our phones while driving -- from the simple Bluetooth headset to apps that automatically reply to texts -- it appears we just can't stop fiddling with the things when we're behind the wheel. And even if your eyes are fixed on the road, barking hands-free voice commands can still render you dangerously distracted. Simply ignoring your phone is the most sensible thing to do, and Nissan has come up with the most elaborate, over-engineered way of ensuring that happens: Putting a Faraday cage inside the driver's armrest.
Alphabet bests Uber in self-driving car reliability
It's no secret that Uber's young self-driving car program still needs work, but how does it stack up next to efforts from others? Not so well, it seems. California's Department of Motor Vehicles has published stats showing that Alphabet's Waymo is well ahead of the pack. While Uber's data (not part of the DMV report) shows that its autonomous system disengages about once every mile, Waymo's only requires human intervention once every 5,128 miles. Nissan's system, meanwhile, disengages once every 146 miles.
Why London is a self-driving nightmare for the Nissan Leaf
For the people sitting in the lobby of the Aloft ExCel, a premium hotel in the heart of London's Docklands district, it was a typical day. Some were there on business, others to see the city. A handful of parents were patiently waiting to be ushered in for their weekly mother and baby swimming classes. However, in one corner, just out of view, were some of the top executives from Japanese car maker Nissan. They were busy making last-minute preparations for a self-driving vehicle that has been quietly traversing London's streets as part of the first ever European tests. These secret experiments -- the first Nissan has conducted in Europe -- could shape how Brits travel in the coming years.
Car makers ask Trump to revisit fuel efficiency rules
Car companies operating in the US are required to meet stringent fuel efficiency standards (a fleet average of 54.5MPG) through 2025, but they're hoping to loosen things now that President Trump is in town. Leaders from Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and VW have sent a letter to Trump asking him to rethink the Obama administration's choice to lock in efficiency guidelines for the next several years. The car makers want to revisit the midterm review for the 2025 commitment in hopes of loosening the demands. They claim that the tougher requirements raise costs, don't match public buying habits and will supposedly put "as many a million" jobs up in the air.
BMW and Nissan launch 174 new dual-plug EV chargers in the US
Nissan LEAF and BMW i3 owners now have a lot more charging stations they can go to. The automakers have expanded their dual-format fast-charging network, adding 174 stations to their current crop with the help of eVgo. These 174 stations spread across 33 states offer dual 50 kW DC chargers that support both CHAdeMO and SAE Combo (CCS) connectors. They can charge not just LEAFs and i3s, but also other electric vehicles, so long as they're equipped with quick-charge ports. Nissan says the 50kW stations only need around 30 minutes to bring EVs up to 80 percent of their full capacity.
Volkswagen's modern Microbus remake, and more in the week that was
The Volkswagen microbus is one of the most iconic vehicles of all time, and now the automaker is set to revive the classic for the modern era. Meet the I.D. Buzz: VW's all-electric, self-driving microbus of the future. In other auto news, Nissan debuted a stylish Vmotion 2.0 sedan packed with self-driving technology, and the Chevrolet Bolt was named the 2017 North American Car of the Year. IKEA is known for its flat-pack furniture, but it's branching out into urban mobility by launching its very first bike. The Sladda is a chainless aluminum cycle that can be kitted out with front and rear racks, panniers and even a towable cart.
Self-driving Nissan LEAFs will hit London streets next month
If autonomous cars are to be made available in the UK, car makers first need their vehicles to do hard miles on domestic roads. Nissan knows this, so today it confirmed that it will deploy a fleet of LEAF vehicles in London next month, giving it the opportunity to publicly test its autonomous drive technology for the first time in Europe.
Uber rival Karhoo back from the dead thanks to Renault
Make no mistake, it's hard going up against Uber. Traditional taxi companies have been forced to evolve or die, while other startups like Hailo have found it difficult to compete the ride-hailing service's incredible growth. Karhoo, a price comparison service for hailing black cabs and the like, also found this out the hard way. Despite raising tens of millions of pounds and enjoying a splashy launch last May, the company quickly burned through its investment and closed in November as it looked "at the next steps for the business." Administrators got involved and employees suddenly found themselves without a job. However, two months later, Karhoo is making a return, thanks to the financial arm of French car giant Renault.
Nissan's SAM uses humans as a backup for self-driving tech
Nissan has big plans for self-driving cars, with as many as 10 autonomous-capable models due by 2020 (including the next Leaf), but according to CEO Carlos Ghosn, the tech can't cover every situation. To fill that gap, Nissan's solution is the Seamless Autonomous Mobility system (SAM). If the car's sensors and cameras detect an unexpected situation that is beyond what it has been programmed for (like a policeman directing traffic via hand signals), it will come to a stop and request help from a remote command center.
Nissan's next Leaf will be ready to drive itself
Today at CES, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed plans for a follow-up to his company's flagship EV, the Leaf. While speculation has focused on how much range a successor could add to the current model, the announcement emphasized how a new Leaf represents "the next chapter of Nissan Intelligent Power" and will include ProPilot autonomous technology. The car is due "in the near future" -- at a media roundtable Ghosn said "we can't announce new EVs in advance because unlike our competitors, we're already selling them."
Toyota could abandon hydrogen in favor of EVs
Toyota has been vocal in its belief that hydrogen-powered vehicles like the Mirai will eventually replace gas and diesels. But this insistence makes the company's recent decision to launch a long-range EV similar to the Tesla such a surprise. Reuters (via Nikkei) is reporting that the carmaker will quietly reverse its longstanding resistance to pure all-electric vehicles in the very near future. It's believed that Toyota will launch a new EV with a range of around 186 miles on a charge by 2020 as it looks to make all of its products emissions-free by 2050.
