Mercedes boss Wolff dismisses 'Roborace'
Formula E's planned driverless racing series would not be sport, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff does not expect Formula E's plans for a racing championship for driverless electric cars to threaten Formula One's popularity, saying the 'Roborace' series would not be sport.
The announcement of the driverless series was made on Friday, with the championship to run as a support package to the Formula E competition from the 2016-17 campaign.
Roborace is set to feature 10 teams of two cars piloted by computing algorithms and artificial intelligence.
Wolff - head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport - said ahead of Sunday's finale to the F1 season in Abu Dhabi: "Autonomous driving is going to eventually happen on roads in road cars. It's going to make our lives easier.
"And that is the way the technology goes.
"We are all here [in Formula One] mostly because we like to see racing drivers racing each other, gladiators in machines that are fascinating to watch.
"So that [a driverless series] is not at all what I would consider a sport. That is a technological or R&D [research and development] playing field."