Published on May 12th, 2023 | by Sounder Rajen
0Ferrari Accepts E-Fuels But Rejects Autonomous Driving Completely
Ferrari is indeed going carbon neutral by 2030, but no self-driving will be available
Italian luxury automaker, Ferrari has long been one of the more prominent names in the automotive industry, and this is not for nothing. After all, the pinnacle of success for almost everyone is owning a Ferrari. With that being said, the brand has always made a habit of standing out, and its newest announcement is no different.
That’s right, as Europe went back and forth on banning internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and ultimately deciding on allowing ICE cars to live on under the condition they use E-Fuels instead of fossil fuels, Ferrari, in true prancing horse fashion, has agreed to build E-Fuel using cars by 2030 but will not introduce any form of autonomous driving.
Moreover, Ferrari CEO, Benedetto Vigna, stated, “In a cabin, there are four kinds of software. There is performance software, there is comfort software, there is infotainment software, and there is autonomous. The last one, we don’t care.”
This is, in the most directly indirect way, Ferrari had stated that while it has no problem adapting its vehicles to run on E-Fuel, the brand is not considering including autonomous driving in any of its vehicles in the foreseeable future. This is incredibly smart as the brand’s cars are known for their incredible driving dynamics, so why mess with its main selling point?
Now, of course, it has to be said that while some Ferrari owners, such as Purosangue SUV owners, would appreciate semi-autonomous driving and adaptive cruise control, for sure, most Ferrari models are sporty coupes so it makes sense, financially and from a branding standpoint, not to include these features so if you like these features, too bad.
On top of that, Ferrari had already announced back when it launched the V12 powered Purosangue SUV, that this model would not exceed 20 percent of the brand’s shipments so it would make no sense to pour in resources int a system that will only make sense in 20 percent of a brand’s total output.
As far as going carbon neutral goes, Ferrari maintains that it will keep the combustion engine alive with E-Fuel compatible vehicles without impacting its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035. Ferrari will also introduce a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) in the near future, stating last year that fully-electric and hybrid models will make up 80 percent of its lineup by 2030.
We got all this from Carscoops and their full article is linked here. Thank you Carscoops for the information.