Porsche open to Mark Webber autonomous mode, will be human driven for ‘a very long time’

Lutz Meschke, the head of finance and IT at Porsche, has outlined the brand’s strategy for autonomous vehicles, driver assistance and other technologies.

In an interview published on the company’s corporate website, Meschke stated “digitalisation and autonomous driving [should be seen] not as a threat but as a tremendous opportunity” for the sports car brand.

This is particularly true for automated parking and semi-autonomous traffic jam assistance, which “will soon be ‘must haves'”, especially for more family-oriented vehicles, such as the Cayenne crossover, Panamera sedan and the upcoming all-electric Mission E.

For sports car models, Porsche could one day offer a “Mark Webber function”, where the car will drive itself autonomously around a race track, such as the Nurburgring, following the same braking, acceleration and steering inputs as the Australian race car driver.

This feature would not only show the car’s owner how to approach the course on a demonstration lap, but could also teach and provide prompts when the owner is doing all the work. Naturally, this feature, should it eventuate, would not be limited to laps set by Webber, but could also include other drivers, such as Walter Rohrl.

Although Meschke is enthusiastic about the possibilities related to driver assistance technology, he believes Porsche will be “one of the last automobiles with a steering wheel”, and that “driving yourself will hopefully remain the most important thing at Porsche for a very long time”.

Although the company has thus far prioritised traditional vehicle development, it is now investing heavily in technology and services, not just to keep up with the automotive Joneses, but also to increase profits.

This will be driven primarily through new over-the-air services, such as in-car purchasing of track insurance, which is already offered in some models.

In the future, for example, Porsche could offer paid downloadable upgrades that could add new features, such as dynamic headlight functionality, or a few extra kilowatts for a track day.

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