On Monday, Elon Musk did what he does best: make a splashy announcement about cool technology, with a goal that’s perhaps too ambitious. He introduced investors to a new artificial intelligence chip that will apparently help Tesla cars drive themselves by the end of 2019.
Musk said that every Tesla currently in production will have all the necessary equipment for an autonomous driving experience, including the new computer chip. However, Musk and Tesla have not been embracing the 3D sensors that others in the field think are necessary. Either Tesla knows something that nobody else does, or the experiment will take longer than Musk thinks.
Most likely, Tesla drivers will get a real but incomplete autonomous driving experience in the near future. People who have gotten the chance to test the technology describe it as impressive but not fully there, as the cars have some difficulty reading certain traffic signs and situations.
Either way, it’s pretty amazing that we’ve made it this far. Whether or not we’re actually close to hands-off driving will become clear with time.