Categories: Info Tech

Musk Says Tesla Close To Developing Fully Autonomous Car

In this file photo Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, poses on the red carpet as he arrives for the 43rd “Goldenes Lenkrad” (Golden Steering Wheel) awards on November 12, 2019 in Berlin. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP

 

Tesla founder Elon Musk said Thursday that the world’s recently crowned most valuable auto company could achieve a fully autonomous car by the end of 2020.

Musk, who has made premature predictions about the advent of completely autonomous cars before, offered the updated timetable in a pre-recorded message to a Shanghai tech fair.

“I’m extremely confident that ‘Level 5’, or essentially complete autonomy, will happen, and I think will happen very quickly,” Musk said.

“I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality… complete this year.”

In years past, Musk had said Tesla may develop the technology for a completely autonomous vehicle by 2018, and then last year he said it may come by early 2020.

The California-based electric carmaker became the world’s most valuable auto manufacturer earlier this month and its shares have soared this year thanks to strong output figures despite disruptions from the coronavirus epidemic.

The complexity and autonomy of self-driving car technology is classified up to “Level 5”. Lower levels feature some combination of autonomous decision-making by the vehicle, along with as-needed human intervention.

But Level 5 denotes a car that requires no human intervention at any time, allowing the passenger to sleep or watch a movie while the car handles all navigation as well as adjustments to avoid collisions.

Tesla already enables partial autonomy for its cars, but analysts say the road to full autonomy faces considerable legal and regulatory hurdles, not to mention getting consumers to feel comfortable entrusting their cars with full control.

Tesla is racing with Waymo, Uber and traditional automakers to bring autonomous vehicles to market.

 

AFP

Solomon Elusoji

Disqus Comments Loading...
Share
Published by
Solomon Elusoji

Recent Posts

Do Not Denigrate Nigeria In Your Sermons, Tinubu Appeals To Religious Leaders

He urged the leaders to be more constructive in their criticism of those in elective…

3 hours ago

Soldiers’ Death: Wanted Delta Monarch Turns Self In

Before he turned himself in to the police, the monarch spoke to journalists, insisting on…

4 hours ago

45 Killed As Bus Plunges Off South Africa Bridge

The vehicle had been heading from neighbouring Botswana to Moria in the north of the…

5 hours ago

CBN Pegs Minimum Capital Base For Banks At ₦500bn 

The apex bank said the new minimum capital base for commercial banks with national authorisation…

6 hours ago

Soldiers’ Killing Oil-Related, DSS Should Lead Probe — Urhobo Leader

The Urhobo leader called for an independent probe into the circumstances that led to the…

6 hours ago

Tyrants Won’t Become Leaders In Parliamentary Democracy — Utomi 

The thought leader noted that thriving democracies in the world practice parliamentary democracy.

7 hours ago