Celebrated Japanese car engineer questions the necessity of driverless cars

Imagine you never had to drive your car again. You could sit down, strap in, play games on your iPad, send emails on your laptop, or simply have a snooze. Perhaps learn a new language?

The idea of self-driving cars is about to become a reality, but not everyone’s convinced.

Take Nobuhiro Yamamoto, for instance. An engineer by trade, he’s worked at Mazda for 43 years, since 1973, and questions the need for autonomous cars.

Yamamoto is a petrol-head at heart, a man who loves to drive. And it’s manifestly clear he doesn’t want to be passive cargo in a car.

“We should have clear reasons for why we need it. Right now, I don’t think it’s necessary to have autonomous vehicles,” he told motoring.com.au.

With high-octane fuel running through his veins, his views mirror those of many motorists who lament the impending ‘hands-off’ approach to personal transport.

In 1984 he helped lead development of the rotary engine for the second-generation RX-7, then between 1989 and 1991 worked on the Le Mans 24-hour winning Mazda 787B.

To this day that race car remains the only Japanese — and indeed the only rotary-engined — vehicle to win the world’s most prestigious and punishing sports car race.

Nobuhiro’s influence extends across many of Mazda’s most important sports cars over the last four decades, including the second- and third-generation MX-5s. He was elevated to Program Manager – the boss – of the current fourth-generation MX-5.

“I think we really need to qualify the reason why we need to have autonomous vehicles,” he continued.

“What’s the real purpose of having autonomous vehicles? It’s not clear yet, I believe,” contended the celebrated engineer.

While some experts insist self-driving vehicles will eliminate roads deaths by removing human error, many believe autonomous cars are just another ploy for luxury car-makers to make bigger profits by charging ever-higher amounts for optional self-driving tech.

Not all car-makers are rushing towards driverless cars though. Porsche is shunning autonomous cars too, and says its cars are for purists and those who love driving.

Autonomous cars could also result in heavy job losses for drivers of truck, buses, taxis and ride-sharing companies such as Uber, which has bold plans to deliver a fully automated passenger car fleet over the next couple of decades.

The flip side is that not having to drive a vehicle purely for transport between point A and point B could bring huge social benefits, particularly in today’s time-poor world. For those commuting an hour of more each way to work, for example, autonomous cars could free up close 500 hours per annum.

General Motors recently invested a billion dollars to accelerate its position in the self-driving car race by snapping up an autonomous driving tech company from San Francisco.

Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Ford, Kia and others are doing similar and recent research suggests one in four drivers will be happy to sleep in their car as it drives them around, suggesting consumer support for the emerging technology is growing.

Renault and Nissan reckon they’ll have more than 10 autonomous cars for sale by 2020 and Google has been testing self-driving vehicles for years now. The search engine giant has signed up with Fiat-Chrysler to deliver a fleet of driverless people-movers and will partner with another car-maker to produce its first (autonomous) vehicle.

Yamamoto is not blind to the advantages of self-driving cars.

“If it helps traffic congestion or helps in rural areas with aging populations and mobility [that’s a positive],” he conceded.

Nevertheless, the Japanese engineer maintains technology companies and car-makers racing to mass-produce the world’s first fully autonomous car are merely deadlocked in a marketing war.

“Right now, it’s like they are competing against each other for this type of technology just for the sake it,” said Yamamoto of rival car companies. “We need to clarify the reason why.”

Do you agree with Yamamoto? Would you prefer to be in full control of your vehicle at all times, or will you embrace autonomous cars? Will road laws and road infrastructure – across large countries like Australia – ever be ready for driverless cars? Can they reduce the road toll without banning human drivers? Who will be accountable when an autonomous is involved in a collision or, worse, a fatality? Why not skip self-driving cars and move directly to autonomous personal aircraft?

Have your say in the comments section below.