Nissan Says That It Will Provide Affordable Self-Driving Cars By 2020

Here’s some car technology news that might make you perk your ears up. Nissan says that it will be providing cost-competitive autonomous cars for sale by 2020. That’s right, self-driving cars are going to be available for you to buy and drive (or be driven in) in less than 7 years according to Nissan Motor Company.

Does that blow your mind? Because it certainly caught us by surprise. Now we’re a little worried that they start developing an autonomous robot auto technician as well. Though, thankfully those seem to be quite a ways off still and even these new self-driving cars will still need car repair services. In fact, they will likely have such complicated computer systems that you might need to take your car to a computer place (or likely a Nissan dealership).

But, if you’re a bit skeptical of Nissan’s ability to deliver on this promise of a self-driving car in less than 7 years, then you’re in good company. There are many people who think that this might not be possible for reasons other than the fact that Nissan will have to really move quickly to get the technology perfected in that time period.

For starters, self-driving cars will require a significant change in laws and regulations. Google had to go through a bunch of red tape in order to get its self-driving car prototypes allowed to drive on roads in California. And getting the approval at the Federal level will take a fair bit of debate, waiting and hand-wringing. Still, it is possible that these cars could be on the road in that timeframe.

And don’t forget that even a self-driving car needs an auto technician to take care of it and keep it running smoothly as well as perform any necessary car repair. But, we’re not super excited about the prospect of having to perform repairs on cars that have such a large amount of technology in them. The more complicated the system, as they say, the more likely something is to break down. Your auto technician can certainly tell you that is the truth.