Case Study: Nissan achieves CARB PZEV certification and halves development time with MathWorks

Nissan Develops Emission Reduction System for Mass-Production Vehicles

Nissan faced the challenge of developing an exhaust emission–reduction system that would meet the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (PZEV) standard while moving off a slow, paper‑based development process. To accelerate design and reduce system cost and complexity, Nissan adopted MathWorks’ Model‑Based Design using MATLAB, Simulink, and Stateflow as the core tools for control‑system development and validation.

Using MathWorks tools, Nissan built plant models, validated control strategies in simulation, and implemented advanced Sliding Mode Control for production vehicles, then applied model‑based testing to speed verification. MathWorks’ solution cut development time by 50%, enabled the first CARB‑certified PZEV gas‑powered vehicle (2000 Sentra CA), reduced the number of sensors, and helped earn Nissan a U.S. EPA Climate Protection Award.

Nissan

Shigeaki Kakizaki

Assistant Manager, Engine Management System Engineering Group No. 2