
TORONTO, Ontario, February 13, 2019 āĀ Speaking to a room full of key Canadian automotive industry influencers, Larry Hutchinson, President & CEO at Toyota Canada Inc., claimed that, in its race toward fully autonomous vehicles, the industry may have forgotten one very important truth: People still like to drive.
Ā āI believe our industry is at a crucial fork in the road,ā Hutchinson said.Ā āWeāre on the cusp of an important evolution in transportation.ā
Even as vehicles are becoming increasingly electrified and automated, most consumers still enjoy driving.Ā To Toyota, the two are not mutually exclusive.Ā The company believes drivers want to be engaged – and that they want a vehicle that reflects their lifestyle and personality.Ā If the auto industry ignores this, Hutchinson warns, they do so at their peril.

Ā āWhy have so many automakers lost their passion for driving,ā he asked.Ā āThey seem to be so focused on the ānext big thingā – on the self-driving electricĀ podĀ ā theyāre forgetting that driving is fun.ā
He noted that, when you look at the concept vehicles of the future, youāll often see a bland, autonomous pod that replaces the steering wheel with a computer screen and a pillow.
āItās very easy to get caught up in a vision of a radically different model of mobility,ā Hutchinson said. āA future where personal use vehicles give way to shared transportation devices that will autonomously ferry people and goods from place to place.ā
In this vision, Hutchinson lamented, people are lifelessly staring at screens while their mode of transportation takes them where they want to go.
Ā āThe proposition that, given a choice, people would prefer to be idle occupants of a podā¦ thatās not Toyotaās visionā¦ not even close,ā he said.Ā āAs other automakers are working on vehicles that drive themselves – turning us into passive passengers – weāre incorporating advanced automated safety technologies in ways thatĀ enhance, rather than deaden, the driving experience.ā
Instead of replacing the driver behind the wheel, Toyotaās Guardian approach is a teamwork concept that sees advanced automated safety technologies act as their personal co-pilot, enhancing their awareness and control of the vehicle, and helping them be a better driver. Hutchinson believes that, in the future, cars will beĀ moreĀ fun to drive, not less so, and emphasized that Toyotaās recent approach has been to build better, more exciting vehicles for people who love to drive.āLots of people will tell you the future of mobility is one of robotic, shared use vehiclesā¦ of autonomous pods and anonymous pod people,ā he stated.Ā āI donāt believe in pods.ā