Porsche's vehicles might be luxurious, but they're marketed as being sporty more than anything, and a fun sports car isn't one that drives itself. That's the line of thinking behind Porsche's CEO, who stated that the company won't follow its segment-mates into the realm of autonomy.
Reuters reports that Dr. Oliver Blume, the company's CEO, is skeptic about cars that drive without human input. "One wants to drive a Porsche by oneself," Blume told German newspaper Westfalen-Blatt. "An iPhone belongs in your pocket, not on the road."
Proper self-driving cars are still several years, if not more than a decade away from fruition. More and more automakers are including semi-autonomous software, such as adaptive cruise control and active lane-departure mitigation, and Porsche is no stranger to these systems itself. But its sports cars will likely stay away from taking full control away from the driver.
The company isn't completely bearish on the future of the industry, though. It's going all-in on its Mission E concept, a fully electric sports sedan that will mark the company's first foray into battery-electric vehicles. Reuters reports Porsche's CEO as saying that a plug-in hybrid 911 is coming "as early as 2018," as well.
