CEO Elon Musk stated that Tesla Inc.’s sophisticated driver assistance software won’t receive regulatory certification until 2022, indicating that the business has not yet been able to persuade authorities that its cars can be driven autonomously.
The manufacturer from Silicon Valley offers a $15,000 software add-on dubbed “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) that allows its vehicles to execute lane changes and make parking manoeuvres by themselves. Its standard “Autopilot” capability, which enables automobiles to steer, accelerate, and brake within their lanes without human input, is complemented by that.
The cars still require human supervision while being driven, though. Regulatory approval would be necessary for an entirely autonomous car.
All FSD users in North America will receive an upgraded version at the end of the year, according to Musk, who also added that although the cars aren’t yet ready to operate without a driver, they would rarely need to touch the controls. Musk made these remarks during a post-earnings call on Wednesday.
“The car will be able to take you from your home to your work, your friend’s house, the grocery store without you touching the wheel,” he said.
“It’s a separate matter as to will it have regulatory approval. It won’t have regulatory approval at that time,” he added.
Musk added that Tesla intends to improve FSD in 2023 to demonstrate to regulators that the vehicle is significantly safer than the typical person.
“Musk is opening the possibility Tesla will have a more difficult path to approval for FSD given heightened NHTSA and other scrutiny,” said Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital.
Technology Question
Auto safety authorities and Tesla have been at odds for a while now over the latter’s partially automated driving systems. In collisions involving Tesla vehicles that have resulted in 19 fatalities since 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started 38 special investigations to determine whether the software was a contributing factor.
Gene Munster, managing partner at venture capital company Loup Ventures, which holds Tesla shares, predicted that tensions between NHTSA and Tesla will increase at the end of the year.
The name of Tesla’s software has also generated controversy, with the carmaker being charged with misleading advertising by a state transportation agency in California because the features do not fully enable autonomous vehicle operation.
Both technologies, according to Tesla’s website, “require active driver supervision,” meaning that a driver must be “completely vigilant” and have their hands on the wheel. They also “do not make the vehicle driverless.”
However, considering the intricacy of autonomous driving, several analysts contend that the software itself, rather than regulators, is Tesla’s main issue.
“The impediment is the technology. It is not about approval of that technology,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.
Tesla has consistently fallen short of the deadlines it set for its cars to be fully self-driving, a feature Musk has called “the most crucial source of profitability for Tesla” in the future.
