Tesla has informed regulators of the US state of California that it is likely that it will not be possible to put a fully self-driving car on the road this year. That is stated in an internal memo from the California traffic service.
In the notes to Tesla’s quarterly results, Elon Musk added that he is confident that his company will put a fully autonomous car on the road this year. He was also very positive about the beta version of the ‘Full Self Driving’ technology on Twitter. According to Musk, about 2,000 Tesla owners are now driving around with the software and so far no accidents have happened with it. The CEO goes on to say that a major update will arrive before April that he says is “ the way to apply artificial intelligence in the real world. ”
Ahead of the facts
CJ Moore, the head of software development for self-driving cars at Tesla, thinks differently. “Elon’s tweet does not correspond to reality, according to CJ. Tesla is currently at level 2,” according to documents requested by the campaign group PlainSite through the American counterpart to the Government Information (Public Access) Act. Moore is said to have shared this information in a meeting with the California Traffic Service. According to him, Musk is considerably ahead of the facts. “Tesla indicated that Elon extrapolated the pace of innovation when talking about level 5 capabilities. Tesla was unable to indicate whether it would reach level 5 by the end of this calendar year,” the memo continues.
The difference between level 2 and level 5 autonomous driving is significant. At level 2, where almost all driver assistance systems are currently on, the driver still retains control and the car can automatically brake, accelerate and steer on the highway. In addition, it is still necessary to keep your hands on the wheel. In between there are level 3 and level 4, where from level 3 in some situations the hands can remain off the wheel. Level 5 is full automation, so the car itself knows how to handle all possible traffic situations. Tesla does not seem to have reached that last stage for the time being.
Discredited
In addition, California authorities are currently investigating a collision between a Tesla and a toppled truck on Wednesday. It’s not clear whether the Tesla’s autopilot function was on in that fatal accident. In a fatal accident with a Tesla in Texas, that function was almost certainly on, according to the traffic police, but Musk contradicts that.