Autonomous cars could mean the end of human drivers, but it is becoming evident that the dreaded future some fear will not happen.
People will keep driving cars for as long as governments will allow them to do to so on public roads, and when that is banned, race tracks will flourish from a rush of car enthusiasts. While we love the idea of having as many race tracks as possible around the world, we might miss a late night drive that soothes the nerves.
Fortunately for us, automotive executives seem to think in a similar manner, as Renault Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn has shown. Mr. Ghosn is credited with saving Nissan, and managing to make Renault more profitable than ever. At the same time, Carlos Ghosn has also led the Alliance to build electric cars, autonomous vehicles, and the Nissan GT-R.
With all that in mind, Mr. Ghosn was interviewed by the Australians at Motoring, who addressed the fear of many petrolheads that driverless cars will bring the end of driving for good. As our editor-in-chief explained in an article published in early December 2016, autonomous cars will be beneficial to petrolheads, but not just by taking the wheel from careless drivers.
Carlos Ghosn explained that autonomous cars would not kill the GT-R, and driving enthusiasts have nothing to worry about the new technology. Instead, they will have the prospect of deciding when to operate manually, and the possibility of letting the car handle itself when it is in heavy traffic.
Ghosn underlines his statement with the fact that driving pleasure will be “reinforced” by the fact that you get to determine when you want to use it. The leader of the Renault-Nissan Alliance also explained that self-driving cars might lead to a small reduction of vehicle ownership, but people will still buy cars because of the emotional link they provide.
As a saying from the world of memes writes, “you can sleep in a car, but you cannot race a house.” That makes sense to us.
However, Ghosn did note that the automotive industry might change ten years from today, and that nobody knows what will happen to ownership figures then, but it is fair to acknowledge that it is impossible to predict something like that when decades are concerned.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News