The 2015 Tokyo Motor Show is going in full swing and every brand is doing their best to grab the crowd’s attention. However, we have an easy winner – the Nissan IDS Concept car which is the next gen version of the Leaf.
The car is purely in a concept stage at the moment which denotes that it may have some drastic changes made to its physical design, engine capacity and electric motor capabilities. But, it’s something that definitely makes most people look forward to the near future, with anticipation. The next gen Leaf is expected to be launched to the public in the year 2018, confirmed Nissan.
It is not only the electric motor that made this concept car so popular! Electric cars are already plenty, including the cheap Nissan Leaf, Volt among others. Tesla dominates the luxury variant of the EV segment with their Model S and the newly launched Model X SUV. Nissan is not going against those mammoth cars, but is focusing on an affordable vehicle which has the capability to help you move from one location to another, on its own.
Sounds incredible right? Nissan confirmed that the autonomous car which is also the next gen variant of the Leaf will be able to drive without any human interference on highways. It has a couple of features bundled into it, including adaptive cruise control and hands free automatic lane keeping system.
While the idea is still at the concept level, the company added that when the vehicle is mass produced, it will be much more capable on the road. Additional features like risk avoidance, stop and go, lane switching and auto parking will be added to it when it gets launched in 2018. Another surprising announcement is that there will not be a single autonomous variant of the car, but multiple models to choose from.
Based on the pricing, the Leaf will be able to do many activities on its own or limited functionality if you go for the cheapest model in town. It has been named as the ‘Pilot Drive Mode’ by Nissan. The ultimate goal is to make the car as affordable as possible and improve the performance of the battery so as to offer great mileage on a single charge.
Tesla Model S recently rolled out an auto driving feature for Model S, but it stops as soon as you take your hands off the wheel for a few seconds. Google and everyone are battling to create self-driving cars, but when will they manage to accomplish it?
