Three Concept Cars, One Question: What Are People For When AI Does the Work?

Three concept cars unveiled in the same October week — Tesla's Roadster, Porsche's Mission S and Alfa Romeo's Cuorerosso — each give a different answer to the same question: what is a car for once software can drive it? That question, the author argues, is the one every business leader now faces about people: once machines can do the work, what are humans for?

What did Tesla show?

The Tesla Roadster comes in four versions. The most eye-catching, the Rocket, uses compressed-air thrusters to lift the car off the ground and set it down again. Tesla estimates the vehicle can reach 60 mph in 0.59 seconds. The faster versions produce a megawatt of power, and the company claims they can hit 230 mph, with downforce fans pulling them onto the road. Steering and braking run entirely by wire, through software, with no direct mechanical link.

Top Gear described the Roadster's abilities as mostly useless and completely captivating. That's the point. What Tesla is selling is spectacle: the car performs, the human watches — a relationship that fits a company whose bigger bet is on cars that drive themselves. In Tesla's world, the machine is the star and the human is the audience.

How did Porsche answer?

The same week, Porsche showed the Mission S in New York: a mid-engined concept for a new supercar line above the 911. For the venue, it chose the Queens pier where it had presented the 550 Spyder in 1953.

Inside, there is no center screen and no passenger screen. Your phone clips in and becomes the display. The driver faces five round gauges, and the tachometer has a real, physical needle.

Porsche is under financial pressure, and CEO Michael Leiters is answering it with a bet on identity: a Porsche, he says, must be recognizable as a Porsche at first glance. A German engineering company with a reputation for performance has decided to compete instead on character.

Why did Alfa Romeo name a car 'red heart'?

The Cuorerosso, unveiled in Paris on October 12, is a 4.7-meter, four-seat coupe finished in a red that darkens almost to black as the light changes. One proposed setup pairs Alfa's 2.9-liter V6 with a full hybrid system and all-wheel drive. Alfa presents it as a manifesto, not a preview of a production model.

The manifesto's governing principle is Bellezza Necessaria — necessary beauty — keeping only what serves the driver. One instrument mode, Concentrato, shows drivers less information the more engaged they become. The Cuorerosso also uses steer-by-wire, the same technology Tesla put in the Roadster, but here for a different purpose. Santo Ficili, CEO of Alfa Romeo and Maserati, put it plainly: "Technology, function and quality are always at the service of emotions and driving pleasure."

What survives automation?

AI is making capability abundant. A song, a video, an app or a business plan can now be produced in a fraction of the time it used to take. As the cost of turning ideas into products falls, first-mover advantages shrink. Capability can no longer be an enduring differentiator.

Tesla's 0.59-second claim proves the point: someone will beat it, and the number will become just another line in a comparison table. What increasingly defines a company is its taste and the emotional pull that taste creates. Taste is knowing what belongs and what does not. Tesla caters to a taste for spectacle, Porsche to character, Alfa to feeling.

The history of transportation suggests efficiency does not kill this. The car made the horse unnecessary, but horses did not vanish — they became a passion. When a technology makes an activity unnecessary, the activity survives only as something people choose, and people choose with the heart.

What does this mean for leaders?

The question all three companies answered is one every leader now faces: once your capabilities can be matched, what makes people choose you? Three answers from the source:

• Don't compete on capability alone. Whatever AI helps you do today, it will help competitors do before long. Capability earns attention, but it's not what makes anyone stay.
• Know your taste and who shares it. If you cannot say what belongs in your product and what does not, neither can your customers.
• Invest in judgment. AI can give you a hundred options at almost zero cost. It cannot give you the person who knows which one belongs. Hire for that judgment, reward the people who say no, and protect those who decide what sits at the emotional core of your brand.

As AI automates more of the realm of necessity, businesses will have to think harder about what people want from the freedom they gain — and what they can offer that makes it worth having.