Ferrari Rejects Self-Driving Cars: 'We Want People To Have Fun, Not The Computer Chips'

Ferrari's boss questions the appeal of a self-driving supercar.

Ferrari Luce

Photo by: Ferrari

Adrian Padeanu

By: Adrian Padeanu

Jun 5, at 3:11am ET

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The Breakdown

Ferrari's CEO asks a simple question: Why buy a Ferrari if you can't drive it?
Benedetto Vigna leaves no room for doubt: "We will not make fully autonomous cars — loud and clear."
Driver-assistance technology will continue to advance, but Ferrari insists a human will always remain in control.

We’ll admit that the debates surrounding the Luce are getting tiresome, so let’s remind ourselves that there’s more to Ferrari’s lineup than an EV. Maranello is keeping busy as it aims to launch no fewer than four cars annually between 2026 and the end of 2030. That’s 20 models in just five years, an unusually large number for an exotic car brand that sold only 13,640 units in 2025. One thing all future Prancing Horses will have in common is that the driver will always remain in control.

CEO Benedetto Vigna is ruling out the prospect of a fully self-driving Ferrari, and he even questions why anyone would buy one of the company’s cars if they couldn’t drive it. In an interview with Australian magazine Drive, the head honcho pledged to put a steering wheel in every vehicle so owners can enjoy driving instead of letting computers do all the work:

'We will not make fully autonomous cars — loud and clear. We want the people to have fun, not the [computer] chips. We want to have a steering wheel and a man or a woman behind the steering wheel. Otherwise, why do you buy a Ferrari?'

Photo by: Ferrari

Driver Assist Systems Will Evolve

The Italian high-end niche marque will continue to improve driver-assist systems such as lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control, but a Ferrari with Level 3 autonomy or above is not on the agenda. The fact that a self-driving future won’t happen is hardly a surprise, given that customers buy these cars to enjoy them, ideally on a winding road.

A Ferrari is certainly not a commuter car for which a fully autonomous driving system would make sense. People with the means to buy one will almost certainly be able to afford more mainstream models where the technology could become available one day. They wouldn’t need to buy a Ferrari for self-driving capability, since that would defeat the purpose of owning the car in the first place.

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Motor1's Take: Ferrari may have changed dramatically over the last couple of decades, but it’s smart enough to know where to draw a hard line by prioritizing human control above all else.

Not only is the steering wheel here to stay, but there are also reports that the manual gearbox could make a comeback. A more analog experience would certainly befit Ferrari’s image, considering it built its heritage on sports cars that are a thrill to drive.

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Source: Drive

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