- Musk announced that Full Self-Driving will move to an Unsupervised status soon
- Tesla CEO went on to say next-gen FSD will allow drivers to fall asleep
- No explanations offered for such a big autonomous driving jump
Elon Musk has gone on record to say that the company is at a point where it is “almost comfortable” with Tesla owners texting and driving when using the company’s Full Self-Driving system.
This is based on the fact that Tesla hopes to enable Unsupervised Full Self-Driving in a “month or two”, where drivers will be able to be distracted by side tasks as Tesla’s autonomous technology does all of the hard work.
However, Elon Musk didn’t offer a clear road map of how the company aims to jump from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level 2 autonomous driving – which is essentially intelligent cruise control where the driver is required to keep hands on the wheel, eyes on the road and be prepared to take over at any time – to a much more advanced SAE Level 3 or 4.
Up until this point, only Mercedes-Benz and BMW have legally offered SAE Level 3 autonomous driving technology, which allows motorists to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road in very specific situations.
This is typically in traffic jams on clearly defined motorways at speeds of up to around 38mph, while both companies’ caveat is that drivers should still only interact with the infotainment system, rather than personal handheld devices.
What’s more, the German authorities granted a special exception to the two companies to explore and develop the tech on public roads, meaning many other markets are still stuck at SAE Level 2. It’s a similar case for Mercedes-Benz in California and Nevada.
As pointed out by Electrek, texting and driving is illegal in most jurisdictions, including the US, meaning Tesla would have to make huge regulatory leaps in legalizing its “Unsupervised” self-driving systems.
So far, there is no evidence that the EV manufacturer has made any progress in that area.
Analysis: highly autonomous driving is still some way off
Considering Tesla’s Full Self-Driving is still under scrutiny due to a number of high-profile accidents involving the tech, it seems highly unlikely that the company will suddenly deliver a system where it is legal to take both hands off the wheel and eyes off the road to partake in distracting side tasks in the coming months.
While it can be argued that the technology exists to make this happen (Chinese manufacturers are very advanced in this field), the regulatory frameworks have yet to be finalized to ensure the systems are deemed safe and legal to use in many markets.
More worrying still, Musk went on to state that the FSD V14.3 build, which the company is working on, will be the “fall asleep and wake up at your destination” build, according to Not a Tesla App.
Tesla’s shareholders recently voted in favor of Elon Musk’s record-breaking $1 trillion compensation package, which involves a series of targets, including delivering 20 million vehicles, having 1 million robotaxis in operation, selling 1 million robots, and earning as much as $400 billion in core profit, according to Reuters.
It is clear that autonomous driving and AI are a massive part of Musk’s future focus, and now that it is tied to that record-breaking pay packet, it seems the CEO will say anything to keep shareholders interested.
Including that he believes one day, criminals will be spared jail, and an Optimus robot is “just gonna follow you around and stop you from doing crime” instead.
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