Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who is answering the question about the difficulty involved in achieving fully autonomous cars, said that Tesla “should be able to do 90% of miles driven within three years.” There are other car manufacturers who are working on either full or partial car self-control, however, the plans are still under process due to technical and legal reasons.
Musk was answering to Financial Times following the reports about the job listing for an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Controls Engineer.
Tesla still needs to build a product line
Musk says “it’s a bridge too far” to get to completely self-driving cars, but using a system as an “auto pilot” during extended drives holds some rationality. On airplanes, pilots often put the plane on autopilot for long rides, but in riskier situations autopilot is not preferred.
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) can, however, get deviated from its goals to manufacture a self-driving car. There isn’t any doubt of the success of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) over its Model S, but the car maker still needs to create a product line. The Model X gull wing crossover will be the next from house of Tesla, which will be followed by a slightly lower-priced model.
This year, Nissan was the first automaker to announce its deadline to achieve the self-driving car, which is in 2020. Likewise, in the Frankfurt Motor Show last week, the CEO of Daimler came in a self-driving Mercedes Benz S Class, including driving on stage without a driver.
Other factors impacting autonomous cars
Looking from a legal aspect, European Union Laws mandate drivers to control their cars all the time. There is no surety if the multi-billion dollar car insurance industry would like to back any such car until the technology is established. However, automatic cars will be jammed with programs to obey the traffic laws, and will not be subjected to human errors, which will interest the insurers.
Buyers may not be optimistic enough to actually buy an automated car until the technology gets approval through real world experience. Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has kept the time limit shorter than other car makers’, but analysts hold that automatic cars will become a reality only in the next 10-15 years.
