In order to provide the best driving technology on the market, Nissan planned, researched, and tested its own semi-autonomous system to compete with the likes of Tesla’s Autopilot and other rival vehicle programs. The ProPilot Assist is the system it came up with and now offers on some of its newest vehicles. 

According to Nissan, this program will be quite helpful to drivers. They explain its system, how it works and which vehicles currently offer it in their list of features. 

How does the Nissan ProPilot Assist work?

The automotive industry comes with a few different semi-autonomous systems that help drivers by automating various types of their drives. Tesla made this technology popular with its Autopilot program that allows you to sit back while it drives for you. Nissan is one of those automakers that have come up with its own semi-autonomous technology, which is how the ProPilot was born. 

This system is a combination of the Steering Assist and Intelligent Cruise Control features. It also contains a stop and hold function, which will stop with the traffic, hold, and then will resume driving when the traffic moves along again. Located on the front of the vehicle is a sensor that will send information to the computer system to let the car know how far away you are from the vehicle in front of you.

It will then adjust speed to make sure you’re at a safe range away from the other car on the road. A camera, installed near the top of the windshield will aid in keeping the vehicle centered on the pavement. However, there are a few things that can affect its performance. Those would include snow and ice build-up, light reflecting off of wet pavement, heavy rain and foggy conditions, and running your wipers on high. 

How to use the Nissan ProPilot Assist technology 

To activate the Nissan ProPilot Assist technology, all you need to do is to press its assist button, which will turn it on. Now all you need to do is to set the vehicle to whatever speed you feel is appropriate, and the distance you need between you and the car in front of you. 

Once its ProPilot is activated, the vehicle will begin inputting information it gathers from the sensor and camera on the front of the car. Once that’s done it will start making adjustments to the vehicle’s speed and will get the car centered on the road. 

It will also maintain the speed until it senses traffic is close, in which case it will automatically slow down to the flow of the cars nearby. With the stop and hold feature, it determines when it’s OK to resume driving again. 

You can easily turn off the ProPilot feature by pressing the button again. Then you can resume manually driving the vehicle to your destination. 

Which Nissan models have the ProPilot Assist?

While it’s a Nissan technological feature, it isn’t actually available on all of its vehicles. You can only get the system with a few different models. This program began with the 2020 Nissan Altima, and it was meant to help relieve some of a driver’s stress, which they experience with daily driving. This version offered adaptive cruise control and lane-centering.

It’s now being offered with some of the 2021 models as well. The Nissan Leaf markets it as a new way to drive. Some of the more popular vehicles in the Nissan lineup also offer it. The Rogue and the Rogue Sport have it as an available option along with other driver’s assistance features. 

The last Nissan model that carries this technology is the newest kid on the block so to speak. The Nissan Ariya has the ProPilot 2.0, which focuses on Intelligent mobility to help drivers safely travel on the road. 

Nissan’s ProPilot Assist is one of the newest technological features that the automaker recently developed. With a combination of other systems designed to bring semi-autonomous driving to the Nissan lineup, drivers can stay safe while they get around in their vehicles.