Elon Musk\u2019s Tesla Inc is \u201cvery close\u201d to developing fully autonomous vehicles and could work out the basics of that technology as soon as this year, he said in a prerecorded video played during the World AI Conference in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
Musk reiterated that the electric vehicle maker has solved most of the essential challenges toward achieving Level 5 autonomy, or a fully self-driven automobile that needs no human behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
The Tesla and SpaceX chief was reaffirming a goal first expressed in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident that we will have the basic functionality of L5 autonomous driving this year,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no fundamental challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tesla is racing against the likes of Alphabet Inc\u2019s Waymo and General Motors Co\u2019s Cruise to attain the pinnacle of the industry: the first 100% driverless car.<\/p>\n
The coronavirus pandemic has both strengthened the case for robot drivers – by making social distance essential — and shuttered labs and factories where the technology is being refined.<\/p>\n
Musk has argued autonomous-driving will be transformative for Tesla. At stake are billions of dollars in potential revenue and a global change in traffic systems.<\/p>\n
BloombergNEF expects 27 million robotaxis on the road globally by 2040, while Cruise CEO Dan Ammann has claimed there will be a $1 trillion addressable market in the US for autonomous ride hailing.<\/p>\n
Waymo – seen as a front-runner to pioneer a commercial service – has been valued at more than $100 billion.<\/p>\n
Tesla customers already use Autopilot on a regular basis, though the technology, which is only semi-automatic, has been linked in the past with accidents that the company has attributed to human error.<\/p>\n
In Thursday\u2019s video, Musk stressed that original engineering on Tesla technology was an important facet of its Chinese operation, which is anchored by a massive Gigafactory plant in Shanghai.<\/p>\n