If you thought self drive cars were still a pipe dream, it might be time to think again. Nissan is developing an autonomous vehicle programme and aims to have cars for sale in just seven years time.

Japanese car giant Nissan has said it will be ready to market fully self-driving cars as early as 2020. The announcement was made at a media event in California with company spokesmen saying Nissan plans to have "multiple, commercially viable" vehicles that are capable of autonomous operation without driver input and that these would be marketed "at realistic prices for consumers."

The Nissan plan is to offer autonomous cars across the model range within two vehicle generation. This means a launch around 2020 before a full roll out across the range.

Nissan has been researching and developing autonomous vehicles for many years in conjunction with top universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Tokyo. It will also complete the building of a dedicated test track in Japan next spring. The company aims to be a leader in the move to make cars safer by adding electronic systems capable of preventing accidents and injuries.