We’ve seen a few new cars dabble in semi-autonomous driving technology, but by and large they’ve been expensive luxury cars like the Tesla Model S and X, Volvo S90 and XC90, Cadillac CT6 and various Mercedes-Benzes. Nissan’s taking a different tack by putting its new ProPilot Assist system on a pretty affordable crossover, the 2018 Nissan Rogue. That’s a big deal.
Nissan will start selling the 2018 Rogues starting Oct. 24 with ProPilot Assist available on the top-level SL trim as part of the Platinum Package. The Rogue SL starts at $31,060.
ProPilot Assist, we must emphasize, does not mean fully autonomous. It merely helps keep the car centered in the lane, keeps to a set speed, maintains a set distance to the vehicle in front of it and can navigate stop-and-go traffic. The last one is the really big achievement here; lots of cars have advanced cruise control for the highway, but now we’re seeing traffic assistance for cheaper cars too.
It’d be something like Level 2 autonomy, according to our chart.
Nissan announced earlier this year that the 2018 Leaf would also be equipped with ProPilot assist, but that’s not available until April. If you want semi-autonomous tech at a reasonable price sooner, then the Rogue is the way to go.
It’s pretty safe to assume that Nissan will keep selling boatloads of Rogues, which means that more and more people will have access to this technology.
I don’t think this makes the Rogue actually cool, but it is a harbinger of what’s to come. Just don’t expect fully robotic cars anytime soon.