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Elon Musk Says Tesla Is ‘Very Close’ To Full Autonomy Which Makes Me Think He Doesn’t Really Know What That Means
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
“Tesla can make as many unverifiable claims as they want, but as we’ve continued to see they are still working hard on getting level two right. Let’s not forget, the other day a level 2 Tesla slammed into a stopped police car in Connecticut, in the middle of a well lined road, on a clear day. To avoid this charade, and consumer and investor deception, NHTSA could have written performance standards for features like automatic emergency braking or forward collision warning, or even could have required driver monitoring systems for vehicles with ADAS features to avoid automation complacency. But of course that hasn’t happened. Instead, expect NHTSA to respond by making a feckless statement about potential after-the-fact safety enforcement that is as separated from reality as Musk’s statement about Tesla’s fully driverless capability arriving next year.”
by Jason Torchinsky
In case your invitation to the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai got lost in the mail, don’t worry because Elon Musk couldn’t make it in person either, instead delivering a video that answered a number of questions posed to him regarding AI and, significantly, Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous system. In this video, Musk claimed that Tesla is “very close to level five autonomy,” and that there are “no fundamental challenges,” just “many small problems.” I’m not so sure I agree with Elon’s assessment here, mostly because the hurdles to true Level 5 autonomy are those “many small problems.”
Here’s what Elon said in response to the question “How confident are you that level five autonomy will eventually be with us? And when do you think we will reach full level five autonomy?”
“I’m extremely confident that level five or essentially complete autonomy will happen, and I think it will happen very quickly.
I think at Tesla, I feel like we are very close to level five autonomy. I think I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality for level five autonomy complete this year. So, yes, I think there are no fundamental challenges remaining for level five autonomy. There are many small problems. And then there’s the challenge of solving all those small problems and then putting the whole system together, and just keep addressing the long tail of problems.”
Just to remind everyone, Level 5 autonomy is completely self-driving. That is zero interaction is required from the driver past informing the vehicle where you wish to go, and Level 5 works without any restrictions, anywhere.