For automotive enthusiasts who love driving, autonomous cars are the metastasis of an insidious rot that began with GM’s Hydra-Matic and shifted into overdrive with Porsche’s eye-wateringly complex Doppelkupplungsgetriebe. To the true disbelievers, there is a simple truth about the modern automotive universe: The smarter the car, the dumber it is to drive.
They’re right, to a point. Today’s cars have taken a lot of the skill and sensitivity, the feel and finesse, out of the art of driving; they’re able to figure out everything from gear change points to tire slip angles to optimal throttle inputs to maximum braking inputs. And with an autonomous car, you won’t even have to point it and plant it. Just put the brain in neutral, sit back, and ride.
It doesn’t matter what we enthusiasts think or how much we rage against the machine. Autonomous cars are the future because most people who buy cars aren’t all that interested in driving them. For them, driving is a chore, not a pleasure, and certainly not an art. It’s something they do to get to work, to get the kids to soccer practice, to get to the restaurant—to get on with the rest of their lives. They’ll love a car that will enable them to do emails over a coffee as it drives the morning commute or take them safely home after a few evening cocktails.
The idea of an autonomous Chevy or Toyota or Volkswagen isn’t an intellectual stretch, as they are brands that have long specialized in providing automobility for the masses. And when Daimler builds a fully self-driving vehicle, it will be the Mercedes-Benz of autonomous cars, imbued with everything the three-pointed star stands for. But for automakers like Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, or even individual vehicle lines like Corvette, Mustang, or BMW’s M family, autonomous cars present an interesting existential challenge: Why build a driver’s car when the car can do all the driving?
Surprisingly, AMG boss Tobias Moers sees autonomous vehicles as an opportunity, not a threat. His wild new Mercedes-AMG E63 S, with its 603-hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, all-wheel drive, and ability to lap the hallowed Nüburgring Nordschleife in less than 7 minutes and 50 seconds, has exactly the same near-autonomous driving capability as a regular four-cylinder E300 sedan. And as Daimler further develops the technology, Moers says AMG vehicles will offer even more sophisticated self-driving experiences.
Read our First Drive review of the 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S sedan HERE.
He insists there will never be an AMG car without a steering wheel. And he recognizes that AMG might have to follow the lead of cars such as the three-pedal Porsche 911R and build something that’s deliberately designed to require more driver input. But Moers is already thinking about AMG cars that will be able to completely drive themselves, and not because he wants to sell them to people who aren’t that interested in driving. On the contrary, he believes a highly capable and fully autonomous AMG vehicle could provide enthusiasts a master class in the art of driving.
Tobias Moers sees autonomous vehicles as an opportunity, not a threat.
Moers points out it won’t be too long before autonomous vehicle capability is such that cars will be able to lap a racetrack all by themselves as quickly as a pro race driver. So AMG owners could be autonomously driven around, say, the Nürburgring Nordschleife as if AMG brand ambassador Bernd Schneider, a former F1 driver and multiple German touring car champion, was behind the wheel. Combine that capability with augmented reality technologies that show the optimal braking and acceleration points and the right lines through turns, and suddenly self-driving vehicles become game changers in a totally unexpected way.
“Autonomous cars will democratize motor sport,” Moers says. He envisions AMG owners being able to switch their cars to a semi-autonomous mode and have a digital Bernd Schneider coach them in real time as they drive, the on-board software and drive control systems progressively reducing the assistance provided by the car as their skills and experience improve. If he’s right, maybe we enthusiasts can relax a little. Maybe smarter cars could actually teach us to be smarter, faster drivers.
More from Angus MacKenzie:
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