Nissan, NASA Extend Autonomous Mobility Collaboration
Nissan North America is teaming with NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley to further advance autonomous vehicle systems as part of a five-year R&D project.
by Staff
January 11, 2018
Photo: Nissan
2 min to read
Nissan North America announced plans to further collaborate with the California-based NASA Ames Research Center on the development of future autonomous mobility services.
Under a five-year research and development partnership, Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley and NASA Ames have worked together to advance autonomous vehicle systems. In January 2017, Nissan introduced Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM), a platform for managing fleets of autonomous vehicles. SAM relies on technology that NASA developed for the U.S. space program.
Ad Loading...
This new phase in the collaboration will build on that success to further develop the technology and test the use of SAM for managing autonomous transportation services, according to Nissan.
“We built SAM from technology NASA developed for managing interplanetary rovers as they move around unpredictable landscapes,” explained Maarten Sierhuis, director of the Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley. “Our goal is to deploy SAM to help third-party organizations safely integrate a fleet of autonomous vehicles in unpredictable urban environments — for example, ride-hailing services, public transportation, or logistics and delivery services. The final stage of our existing research agreement with NASA will bring us closer to that goal and test SAM in a working demonstration on public streets.”
One of NASA’s strategic goals is to transfer its aerospace technology to broader commercial and social applications.
“Using NASA’s work in robotics to accelerate the deployment of autonomous mobility services is a perfect example of how the considerable work required to advance space exploration can also pioneer advances here on Earth,” said Eugene Tu, center director of NASA Ames.
Distracted driving remains one of the most persistent risks in fleet operations. New approaches focus on removing mobile device use entirely while adding real-time safety support.
As distraction risks evolve, fleets are turning to smarter, more connected technologies to better understand what’s happening behind the wheel. Part 2 explores how these tools are helping identify risky behaviors and improve visibility across operations.
Distracted driving is often measured by what we can see—phones in hand, eyes off the road. But what about the distractions we can’t? A recent incident raises a bigger question about awareness, attention, and why subtle risks so often go unnoticed.
Fleets have more driver data than ever, so why isn't behavior changing? Training requires more than reports and coaching — it requires real-world practice.
A two-part conversation with Stefan Heck on how AI is transforming the fight against distracted driving. As fleets adopt smarter tools, the focus shifts from reacting to preventing risk. In Part 1, we look at where AI is making an impact for fleets today.
An 11% drop in pedestrian fatalities in early 2025 signals progress in U.S. road safety, but elevated death rates and ongoing risks underscore the need for continued action from fleets and policymakers.
