Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is once again predicting that Full Self-Driving – the actual ability – is coming to Tesla vehicles later this year. While it’s nowhere near the first time he’s said that other factors indicate that Tesla is making progress toward that goal. Despite that, a jump from where Full Self-Driving is today to where Musk predicts it’ll go before year’s end is one that would be industry-shaking.
Musk’s comments came at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. He attended via video link and made a number of comments about how Tesla is approaching AI and the progress it’s making with regard to autonomous driving technology.
“In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision… This is only speculation, but I think we’ll achieve full self-driving, maybe what you would call four or five, I think later this year,” said Musk. Despite his “only speculation” comment, this is still a huge aspiration.
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Level four autonomy offers the ability to completely disconnect from the task of driving. In fact, it’s supposed to be so good that it can handle all situations, although the vehicle has physical controls and the driver can take over when they so wish. While Full Self-Driving can prove to be quite impressive, it’s not capable of that sort of driving by any stretch of the imagination today.
Should Tesla actually pull off level four or level five autonomy this year it would be properly shocking to the industry. Mercedes made headlines earlier this year as the 2024 EQS and S-Class will both come with level three autonomy. They’re the first two cars available with it in the USA.
Will Musk actually get his own prediction right this year and see Full Self-Driving actually live up to its lofty namesake? We’d be a bit shocked to see that happen but Musk finished his comment saying “I feel like we’re closer to it than we ever have been,” according to ChannelNewsAsia. Nevertheless, even if Tesla does pull it off, the NHTSA might have a thing or two to say about it. The administration is still deep into a years-long probe about the safety of Autopilot.
