Ducati USA CEO says no to self-riding motorbikes

As the Italian marque approaches its centenary under the Volkswagen Group umbrella, its North American CEO says why autonomy has no place in motorcycling’s DNA.

Simon Hancocks

18 Feb 2026

As the car industry hurtles, some would say blindly, towards vehicle autonomy, the motorcycle world remains, thankfully, a little more stubborn.

One such brand that is putting all its eggs in the rider-riding basket is Ducati. Speaking to Business Insider, the North American boss of Ducati, Jason Chinnock, made it clear he hopes bikes never go the way of self-driving cars.

“I hope I never see the day,” he said, arguing that removing rider input would strip away the very essence of motorcycling. In his view, a motorcycle that pilots itself would “take away the entire reason to ride a motorcycle.” And we can’t argue with that.

It’s a pointed stance at a time when autonomy is rapidly becoming normalised on four wheels. Robotaxi fleets from Waymo and Tesla are already operating in parts of California, and the UK government has also green-lighted self-driving trials on UK roads. Self-driving advocates are promising that the transport is safe, smooth and largely hands-off. Mobility, as the tech sector defines it, is about frictionless movement from A to B.

But that, says Chinnock, is not what Ducati is in the business of building.

“We are not building mobility. We’re building motorcycles. We’re building something for joy and for fun,” he told Business Insider. If riders simply want effortless transportation, he suggested, there are easier ways to get it than throwing a leg over a motorbike.

Ducati was founded in Bologna in 1926 and is now part of the vast Volkswagen Group. In 2024 it shifted around 55,000 bikes globally, generating roughly €1 billion in revenue. Ducati’s stance on the world of self-driving, or self-balancing as it would be in the bike world, is quite the opposite of VW's, with numerous models from the German giant’s range offering some form of semi-automated assistance - be it lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, or parking assist.

That’s not to say Ducati is against technology being built into its motorcycles – far from it. Modern Ducatis bristle with electronics, such as cornering ABS, multi-level traction control, ride modes and adaptive cruise control, which are now commonplace not just on Ducatis but across the sector. The difference, Chinnock argues, is that these systems exist to enhance safety and sharpen the experience, and not replace the rider entirely.