Nissan Motor Co. will introduce cars that park themselves by 2016, chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn said, as the Japanese carmaker rushes to be among the first to offer automated driving.

The feature, along with technology enabling cars to autonomously navigate congested highways, will be available in a wide range of vehicles, Ghosn told reporters today in Tokyo. Two years later, the company plans to offer vehicles that can change lanes automatically, and by 2020, they’ll be able to handle intersections on their own, he said.

“You need to be first with very significant features,” said Ghosn, who is also CEO of France’s Renault SA. “There’s always a premium with those who come first.”

Carmakers including Nissan, Toyota Motor Corp. and Daimler AG, along with technology companies such as Google Inc., are accelerating research into systems that can make driving partly or fully automatic. Potential benefits include reducing traffic accidents and congestion and allowing people to use the time in transit for activities other than driving.

Ghosn, 60, said the first automakers to introduce automated-driving features will have an advantage as new technologies are associated with the brands that introduced them. Nissan, whose Leaf hatchback was the first mass-market fully electric car, said in August it planned to sell affordable, fully autonomous vehicles by 2020.

Ghosn also outlined his outlook for improving gender diversity at Nissan, which has been the most aggressive among Japanese carmakers at promoting women. The company aims for female employees to make up 10 percent of its management ranks by 2017, from 7 percent now.

Nissan’s share of women in management positions is more than double that of other large Japanese manufacturers, Ghosn said. He cast doubt on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s target for female workers to fill 30 percent of such roles by 2020. (Bloomberg)