Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna has reiterated at this year’s Financial Times Future of the Car Summit the company doesn’t care about autonomous driving technology.
When asked whether Ferrari will be required to look outside the company for software capabilities as part of its electric push, Mr Vigna responded with the following as reported by Business Insider.
“In a cabin, there are four kinds of software. There is performance software, there is comfort software, this is infotainment software, and there is autonomous” said Mr Vigna.
“The last one, we don’t care.”
The Italian high-end carmaker has historically kept the majority of its development in-house, with Mr Vigna implying that shunning autonomous driving technology allows Ferrari to continue this.
Mr Vigna also said Ferrari has enough resources committed to developing its upcoming EVs, and has made necessary partnerships with battery developers to produce its first EV by 2025.
This isn’t the first time Mr Vigna has spoken about how Ferrari won’t build an autonomous vehicle. Previous Ferrari executives have made similar statements too.
During the summit Mr Vigna also referenced the “soul of the car”, which makes a lot of sense as an autonomous Ferrari wouldn’t likely be anywhere near as engaging.
Although Ferrari doesn’t appear to be interested in an autonomous vehicle at the moment, it’s currently planning to launch 15 new cars between 2023 and 2026.
One of these upcoming models will be its first battery-electric vehicle, which is confirmed to launch in 2025. It’ll also have some form of “engine noise”.
Another promised highlight will be a high-performance V8 hybrid halo model to follow on from the V12-powered LaFerrari.
By 2026, Ferrari aims to have a vehicle lineup that consists of 60 per cent hybrid and all-electric vehicles, and 40 per cent internal combustion-powered models.
By 2030, the Prancing Horse will boost this figure to 40 per cent hybrid, 40 per cent all-electric, and 20 per cent internal-combustion vehicles.