By Jamie Barrie T he Nissan Motor Company that owns the Infiniti luxury brand which sold 215,250 cars globally last year is recall- ing 60,000 of Infiniti Q50 sedans over steering issue. A spokesperson for the luxury brand, Stefan Weinmann said in a written statement, the recall will affect cars in all markets where the Q50 is sold and is due to a steering system glitch in the Q50 sedan’s autonomous driving capabilities which could malfunction. With the auto industry along with many others racing to put self-driving cars on the road, seeing autonomous driving as the next big thing, these recalls question the safety of such technology as many regulatory and tech- nical hurdles remain. Infiniti began informing customers of the recall in June and July, he said, emphasizing the brand’s commitment to safety.
thanks to its direct adaptive steering system.
Infiniti chief Roland Krueger told Reuters last week that the brand plans to roll out autonomous driving to more new models as it introduces the steering system to more of its cars “one by one.” Krueger also stated that “With this steering function, we (Nissan) can offer what we call partial autonomous drive already.” In saying this, Krueger said that more advanced autonomous driving features such as those beyond highways, will require advances in infrastructure and regulation. This isn’t the Q50’s first issue with the direct adaptive steering system. Infiniti recalled 2014 model year Q50s because the electric steering system could be disabled at freezing temperatures, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Given that these are minor setbacks in the road to a fully autonomous vehicle we are sure that Nissan and the auto industry are on the right course.
The Q50 is Infiniti’s first model that can drive itself on highways under certain conditions
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JULY 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
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