Googles self-driving cars wont be the only robotic vehicles roaming NASAs Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. The U.S. space agency has teamed up with automaker Nissan to test autonomous drivingtechnologies that could find their way into future vehicles both on the road and in space exploration missions.

NASA hopes thefive-yearpartnership can help improve the autonomous vehicle technologies available for its robotic rovers duringMars missionsand other future space exploration. On Earth, Nissan has set a 2020 goal for the market debut of cars that can navigate without human intervention under most driving conditions. Researchers from both organizations aim to begin testing the first of a fleet of self-driving vehicles before the end of 2015.

The work of NASA and Nissanwith one directed to space and the other directed to earthis connected by similar challenges,said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Co, in an 8 Januarypress release.The partnership will accelerate Nissan's development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that we will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020.

The two organizations have cooperated on technological development in the past. For instance,Nissan used NASAs research on neutral body posture in low-gravity conditions to develop more comfortable car seats. But hardware and softwareforself-driving cars could prove to be some of the mosttransformative technologies to reach mainstream acceptance in the coming years.

Ghosnhas suggested that Nissansintroduction of a commercially available self-driving car could even take place as soon as2018. He mentioned legal considerations rather than technological roadblocks as the biggest potential stumbling block along any timeline. On the other hand, Nissan engineers have emphasized a less firm deadline in order to leave themselvesmore wiggle room.

Other observers say that, Ghosns reassurances notwithstanding,there remains a list of technical and regulatory hurdles that must be cleared beforeself-driving cars can be expected to make the worlds roadsat least as safe as they are with humans in control. The toughest part of the challenge for robotic cars will be dealing with a mix of automated vehicles and ordinary vehicles driven by humans.

As I noted earlier, the zero-emission, self-driving vehicles to be tested by Nissan wont have the run of the place. Theyll share the NASA testing grounds with potential competitors such as Google.Google has already been making use of the NASA Ames Research Center to test its own self-driving vehiclea two-seat, all-electric prototype that dispenses with the traditional steering wheel and accelerator and brakepedals in favor of just a start and stop button. The Silicon Valley giant hopes to begin tests of its unoccupiedself-driving carson the NASA research campus sometime this year.

Other carmakers are also racing to develop self-driving vehicles. Mercedes-Benz has begun testing its own robocars at an abandoned naval base in Concord, Calif. Meanwhile, Elon Musk has promised that his Tesla electric cars will be able to operate without human assistance for 90 percent of miles drivenstarting this year.

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IEEE Spectrums blog about the sensors, software, and systems that are making cars smarter, more entertaining, and ultimately, autonomous. Contact us:p.ross@ieee.org

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NASA and Nissan Chase Self-Driving Car Technology