Referring to the capability to steer and navigate roads without any driver input, Tesla Inc.’s Chief Executive Elon Musk stated the company is ‘very close’ to achieving level 5 autonomous driving technology.
“I’m extremely confident that level 5 or essentially complete autonomy will happen and I think will happen very quickly,” Musk said at WAIC’s (World Artificial Intelligence Conference) opening.
Musk added that he is confident that the company would have the basic functionality for level 5 autonomy complete this year. Tesla is also engaged in developing new heat-projection and cooling systems in order to enable more hi-tech computers in cars, he stated.
The US electric vehicle maker currently builds cars with an Autopilot driver-assistance system. Also, tech giants like Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo and Uber Technologies are investing heavily in the autonomous driving industry. However, it would take some time for the technology to get ready and public to trust autonomous vehicles fully, according to experts.
It is worth noting that surpassing Toyota’s market capitalization, Tesla became the highest-valued automaker in the first week of July, underscoring the investors’ enthusiasm for the US-based company.