2019 Nissan Altima will have ProPilot Assist option

The 2019 Nissan Altima midsize family sedan will be revealed soon at the New York Auto Show. We've seen it in spy shots, and we've seen an early sketch, and now we know one of the features that will be available. The new Altima will have ProPilot Assist as an option.

In case you haven't heard of ProPilot Assist or just forgot about it, the feature is a semi-autonomous driving system that provides steering, acceleration and braking assistance on highways. It can bring the car to a complete stop and resume accelerating up to speed, it recognizes other cars and adjusts speed, and it keeps the car in its lane. It does require the driver to continue paying attention and to keep hands on the steering wheel. Also, while it can handle some corners on highways, there are limits to how tight a corner it can manage.

The feature is currently available on the Nissan Rogue crossover SUV and the new Leaf EV. This will make the Altima the third Nissan-badged vehicle to get the technology. Our experience has been that even with ProPilot's limitations, the feature works simply and reliably and is handy for long, boring highway journeys. So it should be a tempting feature on the new family sedan.