- Title: Renault-Nissan CEO says excited by "connected" driverless car future
- Date: 8th November 2016
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES GATHERING FOR WEB SUMMIT CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) CARLOS GHOSN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RENAULT-NISSAN, SAYING: "I think driverless cars will come much later, for many reasons, because the day you don't have the driver in the car, the problem of 100 percent flawless technology becomes evident. The problem of liability needs to be clarified. The regulatory problem, particularly relative to cyber security and other things, becomes much more acute. So I think it will be much easier for the regulator to authorise autonomous driving wave by wave - in fact, it was relatively simple in Japan to obtain the authorisation to be an autonomous drive single lane highway. I think it's going to be much more complicated the day we're going to show a car driving, driverless. So that's why I'm seeing it, first wave autonomous car, ultimately, city driving, and after that, driverless cars."
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2016 18:12
- Keywords: portgual web summit ghosn carlos renault nissan economy
- Location: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- City: LISBON, PORTUGAL
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00157L6JD9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The most exciting part of the technology in driverless cars will be the one used in the extra two hours drivers will gain per day when they no longer have to sit behind the wheel, the chief executive of Renault-Nissan said on Tuesday (Nov 8).
Speaking to Reuters at the Web Summit being held this week in Lisbon, Carlos Ghosn said these extra two hours - the average time spent by drivers behind the wheel worldwide - will open an entire new world of technological possibilities.
"The most exciting technology is the combination of connected (cars) and autonomous (driving)," Ghosn told Reuters. "Now the car becomes a mobile space, connected, where you can have a video conference, see a movie, talk to your kids or consult your doctor."
Technology for driverless cars was one of the hottest topics at the Web Summit, which is one of Europe's biggest gatherings of technology startups.
Ghosn said driverless cars are already a reality as the first models offering single-lane, autonomous driving on motorways already exist.
Subsequent "waves" of autonomous driving are likely to include multiple-lane highway driving in 2018 and then the technology for autonomous driving in cities should be ready by 2020, he said.
"Then, after 2020 you'll have the driverless cars, the cars without the driver," he said.
He expected fully driverless cars to come only much later as the technology to make them a reality needs to be completely flawless and regulation will take longer.
Ghosn would not give any details of the decision by Nissan to build two new models in Britain despite the country's decision to leave the European Union in a referendum in June.
"I can say I feel comfortable with the decision," he said, adding that it was a decision taken after long discussion and talks with the British government.
He would not elaborate on what those talks involved, saying only "it's up to them (the British government) to tell you." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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