There are no plans to develop autonomous Rolls-Royce vehicles for the foreseeable future, according to Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Speaking during a media briefing in Dubai, Müller-Ötvös reiterated the company’s desire to be “all electric” by the end of the decade.

Müller-Ötvös said the technology wasn’t yet at a stage to be implemented on the ultra-luxury motor vehicles and that previous talk of mass-produced autonomous vehicles hitting the roads had been slightly premature.

“I think autonomous might be a little bit over-judged in the past, and I think the development has not been as fast as many people thought it might happen,” he said.

“Our clear strategy, and that is unchanged, once technology is at a level that they are really beneficial for our clients, we will introduce it into one of our products.”

BMW owners

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which this week revealed a 29 percent increase in profits for the Middle East and Africa, is under the ownership of the BMW Group, which is heavily involved in the development of autonomous vehicles – British spy James Bond was filmed in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ in 1997 futuristically steering his BMW through a parking garage with his mobile phone.

While in April 2018, the company opened its Autonomous Driving Campus.

Müller-Ötvös said: “It’s great to be in the ownership of the BMW Group because the BMW Group is very active on autonomous driving technology. Once that technology is right for Rolls Royce, we will implement it.

“But it’s not coming as fast as you might have read in many articles over the last years, with autonomous level four, level five, robotised cars. I think it is taking far longer than expected due to legal reasons and many technical obstacles.”

Rolls-Royce is, however, forging ahead with plans to make the brand completely electrified by the end of this new decade. “That’s our future, that’s what keeps us busy, we’re working on that intently,” he said.