As technology companies and automakers race into the self-driving car segment, Tesla has officially tossed its hat into the ring. The Silicon Valley-based carmaker said at its Autonomy Day conference on Monday that it will have a fleet of self-driving “robo taxis” in service by the end of next year.
CEO Elon Musk made the comments, according to a report from The New York Times, and he continued to dismiss the need for lidar in the automaker’s self-driving cars. Instead, Tesla’s autonomous vehicles will feature cameras and radar systems paired with a new in-house computer design, which Tesla called “the world’s fastest computer.” Nvidia has already challenged that claim. Tesla said its computer can handle 144 trillion operations per second; Nvidia said its own design can handle 320 trillion operations per second.
Photo: JD Lasica
With Tesla’s official entrance into the self-driving segment, it pegs the electric-car maker squarely against some of the biggest names in the industry. Google’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise Automation subsidiary remain top dogs.
GM, specifically, has reiterated plans on numerous occasions that it plans to “commercialize” self-driving cars this year. However, the automaker has been quiet recently as many companies tamper down expectations for when totally autonomous cars will be available to the public. Crosstown rival Ford recently said it “overestimated” the arrival of self-driving technology.
Meanwhile, Tesla is confident it will have its technology ready next year. Such a feat would be miraculous considering autonomous cars hover around Level 2 and Level 3 on the SAE’s autonomy scale. Level 4 and Level 5 require zero input from drivers, which Tesla seems to allude to in its comments.
The accomplishment seems even more daunting without the use of lidar, which is a laser-based form of radar. It uses light and laser signals to measure the distance between the self-driving car and an object that allows the autonomous vehicle to “see.” Musk added new “neural networks” of computers will forego the need for lidar as the computers he spoke of will mimic the human brain, per the executive.
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Source: The New York Times
Comments
Tesla is five years ahead of the rest of the Industry. And the best part is they are an American Company.
Go Tesla Go!!!
they are 5 years ahead of any company with promises that always seem to fall short.
What promise has fallen short?
how are those solar tiles working out for you?
how about those production numbers never hit?
sustained profitability?
how about that human sub capable of traversing caves?
$420/share funding secured?
this latest autonomy headline is just a new kool-aid flavor. the model 3 kool-aid is getting flat fast. the solar city/solar tiles kool-aid is way past its expiration date.
but hey, in less than two years, musk is saying there will be a million model 3 autonomous taxis raking in billions. yet wall street gave a collective shrug today.
Solar tiles are being produced in Buffalo and there’s houses that already have them.
So Tesla is the ONLY Automaker that misses Production Numbers all of a sudden?
Hey how are those Chevy Cruze Numbers that GM thought they would have working out?
If the SEC wasn’t corrupt Elon Could have taken Tesla back to being Private like Space X is.
Name me another Autopilot system that has anywhere near the miles driven and the amount of collected Date that Tesla has…Go ahead, I’ll wait.
As far as a Million cars is concerned, How is that not feasible? They already have over 500K Teslas out there. The Gigafactory is not even 100 percent completed in Nevada and oh yeah they’re building one more in China.
But by all means go ahead and keep drinking that Short Seller Kool-Aid shoveled to you by Big Oil and the Media.
sure, those tiles are selling so well tesla doesn’t report the number of installations in its sec filings.
production numbers count when you are priced for growth and have three models only; not 20 or 30.
you really believe the sec prevented tesla from going private with that imaginary saudi money? please.
tesla brags about autopilot but as soon as someone gets injured or killed, they remind everyone its limitations and the need to keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.
there is a huge difference between 500K non-autonomous cars and 1 million fully autonomous cars in less than two years. that requires a leap of faith/extra dose of kool-aid.
and just a few days ago, musk was touting how tesla designed a chip that was 7 times faster than nvidia. wow!!! if we believe musk, tesla should have the market cap of nvdia/uber/lyft combined.
Soooooo you basically agree with me that Tesla has indeed done everything I have stated above but you’re just not impressed. I wonder why that is. Tesla is an American Car company that is at least five years ahead of any other Automaker in todays market. Yeah I root for them as I do the other Big Three. Mostly GM though as I am obviously on a GM thread.
What you are missing is that even if all of the 500K cars you are stating don’t have Autopilot, Tesla can just download it on every single car they’ve ever produced (excluding the original Roadster) so yeah they are at least five years ahead of every other Auto maker out there.
A quick question for you, how’s that GM Super Cruise going for us GM fans? Can Cadillac just do an OTA download to all of the Cadillacs out there? Oh yeah they cannot. Stop listening to Big Oil and Short Sellers and look up your own information. And go drive a Tesla with Autopilot and then tell me who is even remotely close to Tesla.
Munro and Associates who basically stated Tesla was a joke and wouldn’t last before he tore down a Model 3 now is stating it’s the best car and it’s tech is 5 to 10 years ahead of anyone else out there.
I think I will listen to him on what Tesla has or has not accomplished.
I wish GM can become what Tesla is today. They have a loooooong ways to go.
Cadillac better throw everything they have at the upcoming EV’s or that brand will most likely become like an Acura or something.
ok, let’s come back in 2 years and see if there are a million tesla robo-taxis roaming the american streets hauling in money. that’s assuming tesla doesn’t go private with secured funding from the saudis in the meantime.
but in a likelihood, tesla will deploy a handful of vehicles in a geo-fenced area and claim victory just like their hugely successful solar tiles.
What are you talking about?
I have the Tesla truck in my garage parked next to my Tesla sports car paid for by driving my Tesla Semi that I made enough money to buy my Tesla stock that I used the dividend from to pay for all of it. Note the dividends are all from those large sales in China.
Yep you’re just talking crazy about unfulfilled promises. Lol!
Don’t forget the Tesla solar panels, flamethrowers, and underground tunnels.
Musk. Like, Muskrat?
Having said that-we all know the line between genius and crazy- is a thin one with a constant and obvious history of being the “gift”, and the “curse”.
Sad, but true.
But without those tortured souls, no Beethoven, The Beatles, Pizza, and French bread ! Not to mention the, Yugo 🙂
No mixing needed, this guy is eating powdered Kool aid straight out the packet.
Time for Elon to get off the crack pipe and stop opening his mouth. It is getting him into more and more trouble and reducing his stock prices and credibility.
Autonomy is a very expensive investment for the five people in the world who want it.
Five people huh?
Is that why companies are spending Billions all over the World?
Of course this is more hot air und unicorns. But if it were to materialize, one benefit would be there’s
no driver to burn to death when the car randomly explodes. Just the passengers.
In this day being first to market is not the most important, having the best product is what matters!!!
GM can bring their technology to market and as long as its top notch they will have nothing to worry about
in love with tesla from the day it announced its entrance.. all the best elon musk only you can change this world