Nissan is to begin tests of its self-driving cars in London next month. Passengers, including government officials and technical and safety experts, will be given the opportunity to experience and test the technology in a live environment, in a modified Nissan Leaf.

These will be the first demonstrations of Nissan’s autonomous drive technology on public roads in Europe, representing the next step in Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility blueprint for transforming how cars are driven, powered, and integrated into wider society.

It follows recent announcements that both the refreshed Qashqai and the new Leaf, both coming soon, will be equipped with autonomous drive technology to enable single lane autonomous driving on motorways.

Nissan is developing autonomous drive technologies, as well as new advanced fuel, energy and efficiency technologies, at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, in collaboration with the Nissan Technical Centre and Advanced Technical Centre in Japan.

Opened in 1991, NTCE is now home to around 1,200 employees. Current projects include the development of vehicle-to-grid technology integration, electric battery advancements and the new Nissan Qashqai, which is scheduled to launch in the fiscal year 2017. The original crossover versions of the new Qashqai will be available to customers with autonomous drive functionality for single-lane driving on the motorway.