Elon Musk , CEO of electric vehicle company Tesla , says his company may offer fully autonomous driving (without human supervision) very soon, specifically this year . The billionaire had previously made similar statements, but had “fallen out” on the timeline he had proposed.
Speaking at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, Elon Musk expressed his belief that Tesla is “very close to achieving full autonomous driving, without human supervision” and that it will achieve what is called level 4 or 5 autonomous driving later this year.
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Musk is referring to SAE standards when talking about fully autonomous driving in Teslas. Level 4 means near-autonomous driving, as the car can drive itself in some situations, without any intervention from the driver. On the other hand, Level 5 means full autonomy, in which the car can drive anywhere and in all conditions without any intervention from the driver.
Right now, Tesla's Full Self-Driving driving assistance package is still essentially at Level 2. The car can do some things on its own, but the driver must be alert and ready to take action at all times.
Level 4 and 5 autonomous driving is much more advanced and essentially involves simply typing navigation instructions into the car. The car can then do it all on its own (especially at level 5) and guide the driver to their destination. Level 5 autonomous driving has not yet been offered by any company in a commercially available car.
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Speaking in Shanghai, Elon Musk admitted that he had previously been wrong about his predictions about the date Tesla would achieve full autonomous driving. But now he says he feels Tesla is “closer than ever.”.
Previous predictions
- In 2016, Musk said that autonomous driving would be available “in about 5.5 years.”.
- In 2017, he said Tesla could have such a car, which would drive from coast to coast of the US, in 3-6 months.
- Since 2019, it has continued to promise that a more advanced version of Tesla's Full Self-Driving package would arrive soon.
See also: Elon Mode: Discovered by Tesla hacker for hands-free Full Self-Driving
It still hasn't hit its target, and given that it's already July, the new "later this year" timeline sounds like a tough target. We'll find out soon if Tesla can deliver fully autonomous driving in the coming months.
The idea of autonomous cars is slowly becoming a reality. These cars have the potential to make driving easier. They could even enable a future where we think about transportation in a completely different way. Autonomous driving may still be in its early stages, but the progress that has been made so far offers an exciting glimpse into what the future of transportation.
Source: mashable.com
