--- title: NASA and Nissan to Develop Self-Driving Vehicles description: The hope is that some of the technology will one day be used to guide unmanned rovers and ferry passengers around on other planets canonical: https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-09T03:56:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:04:07.739Z article:section: Science og:title: Your Ride on Another Planet Will Be Self-Driven og:description: NASA and Nissan team up to create vehicles for other worlds. og:url: https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte02a0edee20012c9/69877907e53aba0f574d6f12/182578078.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3576 og:image:height: 2012 og:image:alt: Latest Electronics Products Are Displayed At Ceatec Japan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your Ride on Another Planet Will Be Self-Driven twitter:description: NASA and Nissan team up to create vehicles for other worlds. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte02a0edee20012c9/69877907e53aba0f574d6f12/182578078.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Your Ride on Another Planet Will Be Self-Driven > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 9, 2015 3:56 AM UTC  Nissan Motor Co.'s Autonomous Drive Leaf electric vehicle is driven for a demonstration ride at the CEATEC Japan 2013 exhibition in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Nissan Motor Co.'s Autonomous Drive Leaf electric vehicle is driven for a demonstration ride at the CEATEC Japan 2013 exhibition in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jan 9, 2015 3:56 AM UTC Nissan has begun developing a self-driving car [in partnership with NASA](http://www.wired.com/2015/01/nasa-nissan-join-forces-build-self-driving-vehicles-earth-space/), in the hopes that some of the technology will one day be used to ferry passengers around on other planets. The Japanese car manufacturer and the U.S. space agency announced a five-year partnership on Thursday to jointly engineer vehicles capable of self-operation, _Wired_ magazine reports. The cars will be developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, close to Nissan’s Silicon Valley facility in California. They will also be zero emission, modeled on the electric Nissan Leaf. “This is a perfect blend of the capability of what the robotics folks at NASA Ames have and the autonomy that we bring,” said Martin Sierhuis, the director of Nissan’s Silicon Valley research center. Sierhuis, incidentally, is a former NASA scientist. NASA said that it was looking forward to using some of the automation technology pioneered by Nissan in its space programs. “We have a rover on Mars. It is not very autonomous. As we go deeper into space, into more and more dangerous locations, we need to add that autonomy,” Pete Worden, director of the Ames Research Center, told _Wired_. \[[_Wired_](http://www.wired.com/2015/01/nasa-nissan-join-forces-build-self-driving-vehicles-earth-space/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/"},"headline":"Your Ride on Another Planet Will Be Self-Driven","datePublished":"2015-01-09T03:56:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:07.739Z","description":"NASA and Nissan team up to create autonomous vehicles for other worlds","url":"https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/","keywords":["space travel","Tech","Space","NASA","Nissan","robotics","self-driving cars"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte02a0edee20012c9/69877907e53aba0f574d6f12/182578078.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte02a0edee20012c9/69877907e53aba0f574d6f12/182578078.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Latest Electronics Products Are Displayed At Ceatec Japan","caption":"Latest Electronics Products Are Displayed At Ceatec Japan","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space-travel/","name":"space travel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3660980/nissan-nasa-self-driving-cars-partnership/","name":"Your Ride on Another Planet Will Be Self-Driven"}}]}] ```