According to Ferrari designer Ken Okuyama, Japan could lose its position as a major car producer if it does not embrace the technology for driver-less vehicles.
Mr Okuyama, who designed vehicles such as the Ferrari F60 Enzo and the Porsche Boxster, said that the Japanese automotive industry could end up as simply a supplier of parts if it fails to act.
“Taking on Google and Apple will be the ultimate test for Toyota and the country’s other mainstream car makers. If they don’t watch out, they risk becoming just suppliers to those tech companies.” Google’s fleet of self-driving cars includes a modified version of Toyota’s Lexus sports utility vehicle.
Mr Okuyama added: “Japanese car makers must focus even more on finding ways for cars to benefit from advanced technologies — an area where they have lagged behind for years. Self-driving cars will eventually become commonplace; as a result, car makers will have to sell not only the hardware, but also the overall system to run the cars. Companies like Mercedes and Toyota are looking at this, but Google is ahead in this game.”
Honda — currently developing a new automatic setting to be used in congested traffic, plus technology to pre-programme cars to drive automatically — has acknowledged the potential threat.
Its R&D president, Koichi Fukuo, said: “At this point, whether Google or Apple can come up with a car is unclear. However, they are spending aggressively to recruit people, so we cannot rule out the possibility that they may eventually become a competitor.”