[Courtesy of Porsche]
“One wants to drive Porsche by oneself” said Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume during an interview with a German newspaper Westfalen-Blatt published on Monday. This comment from the exotic car maker’s CEO explains a lot. Porsche will not make autonomous cars.
“An iPhone belongs in your pocket, not on the road.” The CEO continued, meaning that Porsche will not team up with tech giants. Instead of developing autonomous cars, Porsche is investing in plug-in hybrid cars and full-electric models. A plug-in hybrid model of 911 will be released as soon as 2018, the CEO told Westfalen-Blatt.
Renault, Audi, Google, BMW, Mercedes Benz and other car makers are on their way of developing both hardware and software for self-driving cars. Some are in cooperation with computer hardware/software companies like Intel.
Other supercar maker had expressed their skepticism about autonomous cars before. Lamborghini, a part of Volkswagen Group, is one of a few car makers that would rather stick to their old values – the sheer joy of driving.
With Porsche’s decision on not making autonomous cars, some consumers in online communities are expressing split reactions. Some said that supercars such as Porsche and Lamborghini are made for driving, not to sit and wait for the car to drive home, others were but worried feeling the supercar company is ignoring the global trend.
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