According to Reuters, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is “very close” to Level 5 Autonomous driving technology. Level 5 is full automation. This is where zero human attention or interaction is needed when driving and would be a huge step for autonomous driving when it comes to commercially sold passenger vehicles.
The Tesla CEO spoke at the Shanghai World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in China via video conference on Thursday. Musk said “I’m extremely confident that level 5 or essentially complete autonomy will happen and I think it will happen very quickly”.
“I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality for level 5 autonomy complete this year,” added Musk.
Tesla’s current Autopilot system is Level 2 autonomy, which is partial driving automation requiring a human behind the wheel. Level 5 autonomy is designed to be used in any condition. Tesla is one of few companies like Alphabet (Google) and Uber, investing billions into the autonomous driving industry.
Musk’s timeline for Level 5 autonomous driving may be delayed, as the company’s previous ‘Robotaxi’ plan has still yet to be implemented for its current Tesla fleet.
