Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has re-promised that the automaker will absolutely have autonomous cars ready by 2020. But you might not be able to buy them – even if you want to – because the government won’t let you.
This isn’t the first time Ghosn has promised that self-driving tech will be available at the end of the decade, although he’s walked some of those pronouncements back.
Today in Yokohama, Ghosn reaffirmed the automaker’s commitment to autonomous vehicles saying that by 2020, “Our cars will be ready.”
However, in a report by the Associate Press, Ghosn qualified that statement with the usual caveats:
The bigger hurdle for such vehicles becoming readily available to consumers is approval from regulators around the world, he told reporters at Yokohama headquarters.
Totally reasonable. But then Ghosn went on to say that a totally “driver-less” car isn’t part of the automaker’s plans and that he’s concerned about consumer appeal.
“The consumer is more conservative,” says Ghosn. “That makes us cautious.”
So just to be clear: Nissan will have the technology ready in five years, but it’s counting on both individual countries and consumers to be totally on board? Sure.
Contact the author at damon@jalopnik.com.
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