Nissan IDS Autonomous EV has 60-kWh Battery, Restaurant Recommendations

An EV with a 60-kWh battery pack, the IDS is a self-driving concept that, "represents what Nissan believes next-generation vehicles should be," the company said in a press release. Speaking at the press conference at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show today, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said that, "by combining our EV and autonomous drive technologies, Nissan is moving closer to a zero-emission, zero-fatality future for car transportation." So, yeah, it's not the next Leaf, but it is the future.

Other than the big battery pack (the 2016 Leaf will have a 30-kWh battery that will offer an EPA-rated driving range of 172 km), Nissan didn't offer up any powertrain details about this autonomous EV. What we do know is that the IDS uses the Nissan Intelligent Driving system. This is the first time that Nissan has put the Intelligent Drive moniker on a vehicle, and Ghosn said that this sort of tech will not only make cars safer, it will also make driving more fun, since you can either let the car take over in some situations (like traffic jams) as you move to your destination or you can drive yourself as you do today, with the Intelligent Drive AI paying attention to potential hazards. In autonomous mode, the steering wheel flips away and offers up a tablet in its place (as you can see in the video below).

The IDS can also recommend when you should stop to eat if it thinks you're getting tired and, if you feed the system information about your eating habits, the car can, "check you log of past meals to provide restaurant suggestions," Ghosn said.

As a concept, this is all cool and we understand that there's no further information about the new Leaf. Still, today's announcement certainly leaves us wanting a lot more. Ghosn said simply that, "Nissan's forthcoming technologies will revolutionize the relationship between car and driver, and future mobility."