YOKOHAMA: With the current and growing backlash against diesel as a vehicle fuel, we’d expect a completely new generation of the Nissan LEAF to be all about the electric powertrain, its range on a single charge, how it performs, and how long it takes to recharge.
However, as we get ever closer to the Sept 6 reveal date for the all-new 2018 LEAF, it seems as though the autonomous drive technology it’s going to have onboard is increasingly becoming the main focus.
This week, we learned about a feature it’s going to have called ProPilot Park, an autonomous parking system for the EV.
Of course, there are already quite a few different parking systems already available with varying levels of autonomy, but the Nissan system looks to be pretty comprehensive as it will be capable of parking the LEAF in parallel, angled, and traditional perpendicular spaces.
It’s claimed that it will even be capable of pulling forward into a perpendicular space or backing into it.
The Japanese auto giant has even gone as far as to kindly provide us with a video that demonstrates how the system operates.
It appears all you have to do is press a button to activate the system before cruising by potential parking spaces. When you locate your preferred space, and as long as the system recognises it as a viable option for the LEAF to park in, all you have to do is hold the parking button and let the car do the rest.
For some reason that’s not entirely apparent, US versions of the new Nissan LEAF won’t have this feature available just yet. It’s only going to be made available for Europe and Japanese versions of the 2018 first model year of the new generation of the LEAF.
However, a representative of Nissan has confirmed the company is looking at including it on American versions at some time in the future.
ProPilot Park is actually the second autonomous feature announced for the new LEAF. The other is a self-driving function for use on the highway that will be able to manage acceleration, braking, and steering between low speeds to freeway speeds, although it’s not going to be capable of changing lanes or leaving the highway. — AFP Relaxnews
Keyword: New Nissan LEAF will park itself