Nissan’s ProPilot technology has found a new home, and a rather compact one at that, in the company’s all-new Dayz. The diminutive kei car is billed as the first mini-vehicle to offer the suite of driver-assist technologies, promising a safer and less stressful ride for those behind the wheel.
ProPilot is at the heart of Nissan’s autonomous vehicle ambitions and will eventually allow for full autonomy, if the technology matures as hoped. For now, the company is working stripped back versions of it into selected models, starting with the Serena minivan back in 2016, which has since been joined by the Leaf and X-Trail.
Launched in Japan today, the new Dayz is the first kei car to carry the tech, which will afford semi-autonomous assistance with acceleration, steering and braking on the highway. This is complemented by other driver-assist features such as lane departure warnings, intelligent lane intervention and intelligent emergency braking.
Nissan says the new Dayz also features an updated powertrain, suspension and cabin, which includes the addition of its NASA-inspired Zero Gravity seats that are promised to reduce fatigue.
“The all-new Nissan Dayz will change the typical perception of kei cars,” says Asako Hoshino, senior vice president of Nissan. “It will bring the performance, excitement and safety-enhancing features of our most advanced Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies, such as ProPILOT, to even more customers.”
Up for order in Japan from today, the Nissan Dayz is available in 17 different colors with prices starting at ¥1.27 million (around US$11,500). There’s no word yet on whether other markets will follow, but given the limited success of kei car models outside Japan, the chances are similarly limited.
Nissan packs its ProPilot tech into the Dayz kei car for smart highway driving [New Atlas]