Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, says ‘self-driving’ cars less than five years away
Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk said his company is primed to manufacture vehicles with 90 percent autonomy within the next three years. Musk said at this point his ambitious goal is “not speculation” compared to the remarks and reports from other automakers, Financial Times reported.
Driverless cars, free of human error and pre-programmed to obey traffic laws, could appeal to insurance providers, but Reuters reported there are plenty of roadblocks still in the way.
The European Union, for example, has laws that require drivers to be at control of the wheel at all times. That’s not to mention all the likely consumer skepticism. From a technology standpoint, Musk acknowledged that getting from 90 percent autonomy to full autonomy will be ”incredibly hard,” IEEE Spectrum reported.
In addition to the Financial Times news Musk is reportedly favoring a system like an autopilot on jetliners, which takes over functions of the plane during cruising mode, as opposed to spending time trying to develop a system that handles all driving functions all the time, closer to the one that Google is testing.
Tesla sells only high-priced luxury cars, vehicles where drivers expect them to come loaded up with high-tech goodies.
