The arrival of autonomous cars in the next few years means that one part of the car will take a backseat – the steering wheel. Well even if every automaker jumps on the autonomous bandwagon, Porsche remains committed to the steering wheel.
“A Porsche will always be a car that you will want and be able to drive yourself,” stated Lutz Meschke, Porsche’s Vice President of the Executive Board and Member of the Executive Board, Finance and IT.
In a recent interior, Meschke revealed how even though Porsche will add autonomous driving technology to its cars, “the Porsche sports car will be one of the last automobiles with a steering wheel.”
Even though Porsche will always be a driver’s car, Meschke feels that autonomous technology does have its benefits, like in a traffic jam or to help driver’s park. “It’s attractive to be able to use the drive into the office during rush hour for my first virtual meeting. Or imagine you have dinner plans and are running late – and you can let the car park itself automatically. That’s really useful.”
A traffic assistance and parking assistance plus system will be available on the 2019 Cayenne, but Porsche won’t make a big leap with its autonomous technology until the Mission E arrives at the end of the decade.
Meschke also revealed that Porsche will offer the technology “on demand,” meaning that buyers can add new functions long after they actually bought the car. The systems can also be purchased as a subscription, a one-off fee or a flat rate.
Source: Porsche
