Infiniti, the luxury division of Japanese carmaker Nissan, is considering rolling out highway self-driving capabilities for most new models, its president said on Tuesday, potentially overtaking German rivals in a race to offer autonomous driving..S. “This will be rolled out as we are launching new vehicles one by one,” Roland Krueger, Infiniti's president, told Reuters.Autonomous driving on highways is considered the first step to a fully self-driving car.Autonomous drive will appeal to younger, more daring buyers, that the brand targets, especially in China where Infiniti's average buyer is in their mid-thirties, he said. For Nissan's Infiniti, only the Q50 sedan is currently equipped with its latest generation steering system that allows for autonomous driving above 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour on the highway.U.

That capability could potentially lead to a car being able to automatically guide itself to an available parking space, Krueger said.“Whenever we are launching the next cars with such a steering system or the next generation of these systems, then of course we would offer those features to our customers. Despite recording 34 percent sales growth in China last year, Infiniti remains a niche brand in China with sales of roughly 40,000 cars last year - roughly as many as BMW or Volkswagen's Audi sells in one month here. German luxury brands like Daimler's Mercedes and BMW offer semi-autonomous features such as stay-in-lane technology and automatic braking on top-end models.”More advanced autonomous driving features, such as those beyond highways, will require advances in infrastructure and regulation, Krueger said.

So far few brands have made the technology available to customers. carmaker Tesla is a notable exception, having already rolled out highway autonomous driving in a software update to the Model S.The luxury brand is planning to step up its investments in autonomous driving in China famous Automotive molds China by launching an accelerator to nurture smart transportation-related start-ups and is considering locations in Beijing and Shanghai, he said. A similar effort in Hong Kong, where the brand is based, is supporting a start-up that produced an app to monitor open parking spaces, for example.Executives for Chinese and global automakers speaking at final day of the Global Automotive Forum in Chongqing urged the industry to pursue autonomous driving as an advance that will reduce congestion and traffic deaths

.He observed that achieving a turnaround was crucial for Indias automotive industry during the ongoing festive season, otherwise a significant negative effect may be witnessed in terms of jobs, investment, and even suppliers being forced to declare bankruptcy.“In the previous slowdowns, both times the government had given a fiscal stimulus and both times they have worked very well,” Goenka said.Christened as Mahindra Ideal Lanka Pvt.Asked if a fiscal stimulus was required from the government at this stage, he replied in the affirmative.85 lakh). Ltd.2 million Sri Lankan Rupee (INR 12.The local assembly cum manufacturing operations will lead to significant tax savings for Mahindra Ideal Lanka, which is hoping to price the KUV100 below 3. the local assembly plant located in Welipenna near Colombo on Saturday also rolled out its first product, the compact SUV, KUV100 petrol K6+ variant to start off with, followed by other variants in the near future."If you look at our capex we have 15-20 per cent capex that has been deferred from our overall investment," Goenka said.

We are trying not to bumper molds remove more but if the slowdown continues we will probably be forced to remove,” the Mahindra Mahindra MD said.Colombo: Indian auto major Mahindra Mahindra has made a case for a fiscal stimulus package from the government for the automobile sector to tide over an unprecedented slump in sales and arrest job losses.“This is our first effort to sell passenger vehicles in Sri Lanka and I hope with this effort we will get to a market share similar to or even larger than what we have in India,” Goenka said..The companys Managing Director Pawan Goenka told reporters here that the auto maker has retrenched about 1,500 temporary workers since April 1 this year, adding that if the slowdown continues it will be forced to lay off more employees.

Goenka was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of Mahindra Mahindras first completely knocked down automotive assembly unit here in a joint venture collaboration with Ideal Motors of Sri Lanka.“I think from April 1 till now we have removed about 1,500 (temporary workforce).Automobile sales in India witnessed its sharpest decline in nearly 19 years in July, dropping 18.71 per cent, rendering almost 15,000 workers jobless over the past two-three months as the sector reels under a prolonged slump, auto industry body SIAM reported earlier this month.However, he emphasised that the concern on job losses will come more from automotive suppliers and dealers and not as much from original equipment manufacturers.“The only thing that can make a difference is if the government of India sees it fit to support the industry for 6-8 months, then you can perhaps see a big change,” Goenka said.

s chief technology officer. Transdev has surveyed users in autonomous shuttle tests about the service and quality, and more than 90 per cent were excited about the service.Two on-demand Renault Zoe autonomous taxis will be deployed in Rouen, Normandy, and a shuttle van will run between a rail station and campus in the university district of Paris-Saclay. Both will start with humans on board later this year, with the intent of going fully autonomous sometime in 2018. "Were confident that in the event they would need to intervene, they can," he said.The companies also plan a similar test in North America and are scouting locations, De Vos said. From the start, the shuttle van wont have a steering wheel or pedals, and humans will be inside solely to communicate with passengers, said Leriche, chief performance officer at Transdev Group.

But humans at a central dispatch center would still be able to take control of the vehicles, said Glen De Vos, Delphi Corp.The partnership comes less than a month after UK-based Delphi joined with BMW, Intel and Mobileye to develop autonomous vehicles. Similar projects are ramping up in California and the Netherlands, he said.Transdev plans to gradually spread the technology throughout Paris and other cities that it serves, so the autonomous vehicles will be on roads along with human drivers. "They were not afraid of the fact that there was no driver," he said. Delphi, which has US operations just outside of Detroit, makes the computing platform that brings together information from the cars sensors, cameras and computers.It may take a while for people to trust the vehicles enough to use them, but Leriche said acceptance may not be that hard to get.Detroit: Autonomous vehicles with no human backup will be put to the test on publicly traveled roads as early as next year in what may be the first attempt at unassisted autonomous piloting.

Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who tracks self-driving cars, said the Delphi-Transdev project would be among China automotive interior and exterior molds the first to carry passengers on roads without human backup drivers. Automotive electronics and parts maker Delphi and French transport company Transdev plan to use autonomous taxis and a shuttle van to carry passengers on roadways in France.He believes theyll go through several iterations of self-driving software and systems before the French vehicles are fully operational sometime in 2019..The companies on Wednesday said they plan to combine Delphis self-driving technology with Transdevs knowledge of mobility operations. Transdev operates trains, buses, ferries and other transportation services in 19 countries, including the US