Tesla Inc (TSLA)

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Elon Musk: Tesla Level 5 Full Self-Driving (FSD) Ready in 2021

Autopilot and full self-driving (FSD) is considered one of the hottest topics when it comes to Tesla. While other automakers are waiting for someone to develop systems that could be installed into their cars, Tesla has already made tremendous progress in developing its own technology.

FSD Beta, presented in October, has already demonstrated clear success, and is able to drive a car for a long time, even in challenging road sections, without driver intervention. In parallel with this, Tesla Autopilot has already demonstrated many times over its excellence in avoiding accidents in the most difficult situations, anticipating collisions that have not yet occurred.

Yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk attended the Axel Springer event ceremony, where he received the award for excellence and innovation. He said that he assumes that, in 20 years, all cars produced will be electric vehicles with fully autonomous driving. However, Musk reckons that 70-80% of cars will be autonomous in 10 years.

Musk also said that he is confident that all Tesla vehicles will achieve full autonomy in 2021. However, there will be a long process of regulatory approvals from different countries. Although, by that time, Tesla will already be able to accumulate billions of miles/kilometers of autonomous driving, which will be difficult for regulatory authorities to argue with.

Musk said that the self-driving car drives like a careful, attentive driver who never gets tired and cannot be distracted. This is the vision of the company and its aspiration. He stressed that it is important that the car brakes only when there really is an obstacle on the road, and not when AI just thinks thinks there's one.

In the US, car accidents occur every 479,000 miles, according to NHTSA data. Meanwhile, in Q3 2020, Tesla recorded one accident for every 4.59 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. These data demonstrate Tesla Autopilot's colossal safety performance—almost 10 times safer than a human driver.