Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Friday the company “Tesla will support [Full Self-Driving] licensing by other manufacturers.”
The Tesla leader was responding to a Twitter discussion about FSD and how it could become one of the biggest disruptions in history.
“Given how hard insanely FSD is, I think it may take 5 years or more before any company besides Tesla solves it,” said Musk.
Given how hard insanely FSD is, I think it may take 5 years or more before any company besides Tesla solves it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2022
Musk’s five years or more prediction is reminiscent of late Apple co-founder Steve Job’s prediction, that the original iPhone’s technology in 2007 was at least 5 years ahead of any other smartphone company.
Tesla’s FSD is currently being beta tested by nearly 60,000 owners in the U.S., revealed the automaker during its Q4 earnings report.
Musk also mentioned, “we think Full Self-Driving will become the most important source of profitability for Tesla.” He continued, “if you run the numbers on robotaxis, it’s kind of nutty — it’s nutty good from a financial standpoint. And I think we are completely confident at this point that it will be achieved.”
“And my personal guess is that we’ll achieve Full Self-Driving this year, yes, with data safety level significantly greater than the present,” said Musk.
This isn’t the first time Musk has mentioned licensing its Autopilot and FSD to other automakers. Back in January of last year during Tesla’s Q4 earnings call, he revealed the company was in early talks to share its autonomous driving software with other carmakers.
