Nissan released an animated demonstration of their new ProPILOT Park technology. The 2018 Nissan Leaf won’t be equipped with ProPILOT Park in the US, but Nissan is looking into adding this feature for future model years in the US.
“ProPILOT Park helps you park perfectly every time,” says the video. “Activate the technology and choose your space. Hold down the ProPILOT Park button with just one finger and glide effortlessly into your selected spot. You get total confidence that even parking in the tightest space is completely automated and stress-free.”
It looks like it really is that easy. Just drive up next to the parking spot of your choice, hold down the button, and the car parks itself. We’ve seen advanced parking assist systems in production cars, but “assist” is the key word there. Those usually require you to work the pedals while the car does the steering. The difference with ProPILOT Park is that it’s fully autonomous and it only requires you to hold down a button.
This adds to the list of cool tricks available in the Nissan ProPILOT tech suite. A unique feature of ProPILOT that we’re eager to try is SAM which stands for “Seamless Autonomous Technology.” SAM is supported by human technicians who solve problems that a ProPILOT-equipped car can’t figure out on its own like unusual traffic patterns or construction. That means even when your Leaf is faced with a unique obstacle, someone else will still be able to take over the driving for you. This should be a nice stepping stone from semi- to fully-autonomous driving.
So, if you’re terrible at parking or just don’t like parking, an all-electric, semi-autonomous Nissan Leaf could be the answer. If you’re in the US, however, you may be waiting a couple years for this tech to be available on the Leaf. Expect to see more of the Nissan lineup equipped with ProPILOT technology in the near future.
