Elon Musk is at it again. The futurist technology leader is making bold predictions and shaking up the automotive industry. This time he promises to bring self driving capabilities to current Tesla owners in the next few months. This bold prediction has been met with skepticism by many, but you shouldn’t count Musk out. He has proven countless people wrong over and over again.
Self-driving Capability
Tesla has an interesting way of launching its self-driving capability. It plans to do it by what’s known as an “over-the-air” update. it could happen in less than one year. However, some people are concerned that this newly developed technology is unregulated and untested in more advanced driving environments. This has made lawmakers and also some drivers uneasy about this new development Tesla is soon to make.
Tesla’s currently have an autonomous capability, that when turned on, can only drive without assistance from a driver on the highway. Tesla’s are currently not driven in city traffic, but that will change soon. Once the new technology is integrated, the popular electric cars will be able to maneuver heavy traffic, stop signs, traffic lights, pedestrians, and many other factors. Tesla has developed a tiered, self-driving approach. This next tiered step is a huge one. Drivers will finally be able to fall asleep behind the wheel and leave the driving all to the vehicle.
Insurance Save Owners About 40%
Insuring Tesla’s are expensive according to Tradersinsurance.net. Auto insurance companies have had a difficult time calculating the risk Tesla’s impose because the technology is unproven and risky. For example, insurers just don’t know how reliable the new self driving technology will be, or if it will cause a jump in accidents and even deaths. There have already been several Tesla related accidents, including a famous collision with a bicyclist. In recent months Tesla has offered its own in-house auto insurance coverage that saves owners about 20%. Still, Tesla’s remain expensive to insure in the broader market.
Tesla employs a technology that uses Advanced sensors and lasers that map out the surrounding environment. This is known as lidar. Tesla has gathered billions of images through its on-board sensors of current Tesla drivers. This information is fed into Tesla’s computers, that then help engineers improve the self-driving technology. Tesla is in a battle for a massive industry seismic shift.
The winners will determine who dominates autonomous vehicle
To no one’s surprise, Google is one of the market leaders. The big tech firm already has self-driving Vehicles on the road. Waymo’s are autonomous vans already being tested in Phoenix. Google has the market share and the technology infrastructure to really take over the market, but Tesla is a scrappy company that is knowing for innovation and an almost cult like following.
Tesla, which has lost billions of dollars, is hoping to attract a new market for its self-driving vehicles worldwide. Some lawmakers have considered the electric car company a bit Rogue. Self driving vehicles are mainly self-regulated, with industry standards being set by the companies that are developing the technology. Currently, there are no concise laws that the government can use to regulate this new and growing industry. In reality, lawmakers cannot stop Tesla from launching its new self driving over-the-air technology update to current Tesla cars.
Tesla Won’t Need Steering Wheel
Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder, has made recent comments stating that in the next couple of years Tesla vehicles will not even have a steering wheel. This has left many people, including lawmakers, scratching their heads. Musk envisions a sleek vehicle, with only the most critical technology being the cars focus. At the heart of Tesla’s self-driving technology are cameras and radar centers that form triangulation or a surround vision, that is somewhat similar to the human eye. Current Tesla’s have monitors on the steering wheel that know when a driver is holding the steering wheel or not.
Lack of Testing on Tesla
Safety advocacy workers and leaders are worried that Elon Musk is rolling out the technology too fast and without enough testing. Lawmakers are also worried that Elon Musk’s plan to release robocars in the coming months without a year or more of testing might result in crashes, deaths and a number of lawsuits. Because the industry is new and unproven lawmakers just don’t know how to create laws yet for self driving cars. It’s kind of similar to when cell phones came out and everyone was driving and talking on their phones, resulting in a flurry of distracted driving crashes.
Tesla Will Become Autonomous and Extremely Safe
The irony is that Musk hopes to end this plague of distracted drivers by creating vehicles that are totally autonomous and extremely safe. While there might be a few accidents as the technology improves, in the long run it will save countless lives. Musk predicts that within 10 years vehicular accidents will go down by over 99%. This to this new technology will make driving even safer than flying and is no doubt the future.
