Too much car automation?

[Tommy]

A thread elsewhere on this forum is asking for help in fashioning a traction control system (TCS) for a Cobra replica with a big engine in it. It started me thinking about where I would draw the line in automating some of the functions in my car. I can see that solving the technological problems of installing a TCS in a Cobra replica would be interesting and satisfying to do. And I can see that it would likely end up in a car that was quicker off the line most of the time than I would be driving it manually. But I'm reminded of an experimental car I saw demonstrated on Top Gear. It was entirely capable of driving itself around a track at maximum speed once it had put the track layout into its GPS memory. The "driver" simply went along for the ride.

If the objective of a high performance car is to get its passengers to the destination as quickly as possible, then automating traction control, throttle control, shifting, braking, etc. seems a reasonable way to go. But if the objective is to engage the driver in ways that excite and satisfy, automation seems counterproductive. In a Cobra it would seem to serve the same purpose as engines that produce unuseable amounts of excess power. It gives the owner without driving skills something to brag about.