Infiniti’s autonomous cars could hit Hong Kong’s streets by 2020, if regulations permit

Nissan Motor’s premium Infiniti brand could have driverless vehicles on the streets of Hong Kong in the next five years, if local regulations allow, according to an executive with the carmaker.

Hands-free technology could be in place in the Hong Kong-based automaker’s cars as early as 2020 allowing in-town autonomous driving, Dane Fisher, general manager for business transformation and brand at Infiniti Global, said at an event to mark the end of the company’s second start-up accelerator programme.

Infiniti launched basic autonomous drive features in its cars in 2013. Its current models can stay within lanes and speed up or slow down with the car in front on motorways.

“Technically you could read your iPad now in one of our cars on a motorway within a lane. Within two years, we will have the ability to change lane, and by 2020 you will have inner-city autonomous drive capability in some of our cars,” Fisher said, adding that any deployment of the technology would be subject to local regulations.

Hong Kong’s Transport Department reversed its decision to suspend carmaker Tesla’s auto steer and auto lane change features earlier this year after examining information from the company. However, the use of these tools is limited to certain areas, according to Tesla.

Consulting firm McKinsey predicts that up to 15 per cent of new cars will be fully autonomous by 2030 after regulatory and technological issues have been resolved. However, McKinsey says fully autonomous vehicles are unlikely to be commercially available before 2020 and that advanced driver assistance systems will prepare regulators and consumers before self-driving cars hit the road.

Nine start-ups graduated on Wednesday from the Infiniti Accelerator’s 12-week programme to support entrepreneurs developing technology related to smart cities. The programme is run in partnership with venture capital firm Nest.