BMW: joy of driving will survive autonomous car era

Geely brand Zeekr, meanwhile, demonstrated that its 007 shooting brake is now capable of driving itself into precisely the right position so that a robotic charger can plug it in and charge, with no human input needed at any stage.

Despite Chinese regulators announcing a clampdown on exaggerated and misleading marketing claims about autonomous vehicles, it remains a key battleground for the industry, and the Shanghai show was evidence that it’s a primary area of investment for most leading manufacturers – so BMW’s focus on driver engagement provided a stark contrast.

Körber concurred: "While everyone is looking towards automation, why do we focus on driving?” But he said it's important for BMW to demonstrate that it remains committed to its core values and its heritage as a maker of engaging driver’s cars - an attribute that he believes the company can continue to lean on. “My prediction is that the relevance of driving will actually increase in parallel to the relevance of higher automated driving.”

This is because, Körber suggested, as cars become ever more ‘intelligent’ and the need for human inputs is less critical to the process of travelling from A to B, drivers will have to actively decide when to take the wheel themselves, and that means they need incentivising to do so.

"I truly believe that there will be situations and use cases where, even already, it's not fun to drive: in a city, queues, commuting," said Körber. "And then people will in other areas and use cases make a conscious decision to actively drive. They will do that consciously. With a conscious decision to drive, [engaging vehicle dynamics] will become more important." 

"My prediction is we will see parallel development: ADAS and automated driving will become more important and in parallel driving fun and capability will also become more important than in the past."

Körber cited the increasing popularity in China of riding motorbikes on country roads at the weekend, rather than just for city commuting, as evidence of the growing appreciation of using vehicles as a recreational activity. 

"So why should everything move towards the car being just a robotaxi in the end? You make a high investment into a highly emotional car and then you just use it in a passive mode. For me, that doesn't make any sense."

He continued: "The joy of driving, I don't see that going away. I see that increasing, and I see that as highly relevant for BMW.

"We don't address 100% of the market; we address a certain target group, and for them we would like to stay true to ourselves as BMW.