Make no mistake, I do not typically bound about merrily praising automotive industry executives. I have never had any reason to praise any within their breed. However, and much to my surprise, I have run into an exception. I am not so much praising the executive as much as I’m praising what he said to other automotive industry bigwigs.
His comments this week made me want to position my person in an arabesque on my rotatable office chair - as it rotates – while holding a note in my best soprano voice. In the end, I didn’t perch; I more crouched and, silently, held on tight.
Larry Hutchinson spelled out what I have been saying all along, namely, enough with the self-driving contraptions - let's drive baby! The President and CEO of Toyota Canada says that in the race to achieve fully automated vehicles, the industry has forgotten one very important truth - people still like to drive. I am, unshakably, one of those people and, try as I might, I cannot suppress the symphony of sweetly serenading violins I hear in my head as I read chunks of his speech...
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| Toyota Canada Newsroom |
"The proposition that, given a choice, people would prefer to be idle occupants of a pod… that's not Toyota's vision… not even close. As other automakers are working on vehicles that drive themselves - turning us into passive passengers - we're incorporating advanced automated safety technologies in ways that enhance, rather than deaden, the driving experience."
Larry declares, “I don’t believe in pods”. Neither do I, Larry, and thank-you for your unflinching vision. In my June 3rd blog last year, titled "Make It Stop", I tried to make that very point.
Pampering passengers with pillows in self-propelled pods is pure piffle; I much prefer pressing pedals! And as long as I can work the pedals that matter in my life, whether they be bass drum and hi hat - or brake, clutch and gas - know this - I will be there at every and any opportunity to leave pod people in our dust.
