Elon Musk: By the end of 2019, Tesla's autopilot will outperform the driver

Tesla, SpaceX and Boring Company CEO Elon Musk is notorious for his premature high-profile statements. Recently, in an interview with MIT researcher Lex Friedman, he stated that by the end of 2019, Tesla's Autopilot will surpass the ability of people to drive a car.

“I think that we will pass the line when human intervention will reduce security very soon - perhaps even towards the end of this year. But I would be shocked if this milestone is not reached next year at the latest,” the head said.

Musk then went on to say that Tesla's Autopilot technology has been improving exponentially so far. “I could be wrong, but it seems that our company is significantly ahead of all market participants,” he added.

The interview with Mr. Friedman was the latest in a long history of bold predictions voiced by Mr. Musk. During a February interview with ARK Invest, the executive expressed confidence that his company's vehicles will be able to operate without any driver intervention as early as the end of this year, after regulatory approval.

But the billionaire has repeatedly made erroneous predictions about autopilot. For example, Musk said in 2015 that Tesla would have fully autonomous driving technology in about two years. The company also missed several deadlines set by Elon Musk for sending a self-driving car between the two coasts of the United States, and then abandoned this idea.

Some experts are skeptical of Tesla's ability to turn its current semi-autonomous technology into full autopilot so soon. A 2019 report by research and consulting firm Navigant Research ranked Tesla 19th out of 20 self-driving car technology companies in terms of strategy and leadership.

By the way, recently the head of Tesla said about the start of mass production of its own autopilot platform, which will fundamentally surpass the current NVIDIA Drive PX2 by relying on specialized neural accelerators. Those buyers of the company's electric cars who choose the expensive option of autopilot (Full Self-Driving) will be able to upgrade the electronics for free. By the way, soon option will rise in price significantly.

Source: 3dnews.ru