With the wider release of its Full Self-Driving Beta only a couple weeks away according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, we are now learning that the CEO is “extremely confident” that Tesla will release full autonomy to customers in “some jurisdictions” in 2021.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard predictions from Musk for when fully autonomous driving would be achievable. However, those days have come and gone. Musk even predicted that Tesla would have 1 million robotaxes by 2020s end, but that is clearly not the case.
However, this prediction may be more plausible. Tesla recently released a beta of its Full Self-Driving software to a limited group of early access owners. These owners have spent the last few weeks testing out the feature and giving feedback whether it was solicited or not.
After receiving an Axel Springer Award in Germany yesterday, Musk was asked in an interview with CEO Mathias Döpfner, when Tesla will deliver full autonomy. Musk responded: “To actually answer your question, I am extremely confident of achieving full autonomy and releasing it to the Tesla customer base next year.”
Musk later went on to clarify his answer saying his initially response was the simple one, and the regulatory landscape is more complicated. Musk added: “But I think at least some jurisdictions are going to allow full self-driving next year.”
In order to prove to regulators that its autonomous driving system is safe, Tesla will have to accumulate billions of kilometers of autonomous driving before any approval is given.