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Mazda Study Finds People Still Want To Drive Their Own Cars

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Mazda’s slogan is “Driving Matters,” and the company has striven to make those two words into the core of their vehicles, with advanced engineering creating fun-to-drive vehicles, including one of the best vehicles for fun driving, the MX-5 Miata. Along the same lines, Mazda has strongly resisted the idea of taking the control of the car entirely away from the driver—just a week ago, Mazda North American Operations President and CEO Masahiro Moro told journalists that “No steering wheel is not an option.”


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According to a new study, it seems that most drivers (at least in Europe, that is) are in agreement, as research conducted by Mazda and Ipsos MORI found that 71% of people surveyed in the UK, or 66% of drivers from across Europe still want to be able to drive even if self-driving technology became available.

The research instead found that people are pretty attached to their cars and the ability to drive, as support for self-driving cars hovered around a third of those surveyed, regardless of age. In the UK in particular, drivers seemed to support human drivers, with 70% saying that they “hope that future generations will continue to have the option to drive cars.”


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Instead of fully autonomous cars, Mazda’s opinion is that autonomous car tech should merely act as a co-pilot that is used primarily just to avoid accidents.

According to Mazda UK Managing Director Jeremy Thomson, “If you look at the car industry in general, we believe that many manufacturers are taking a lot of driving pleasure away from drivers. At Mazda we are fighting against this and it’s clear from the research that there’s still a huge percentage of drivers who just want to be behind the wheel. In a world that questions the act of driving and devalues the role of the car and the role of the driver through technological changes, we will continue to challenge convention for the love of driving.”

News Source: Automotive World