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Elon Musk Says Self-Driving Teslas Could Cause One ‘Insane’ Issue

Elon Musk says self-driving cars would be safer than humans and could solve several problems, but it would also make one issue much worse. The tech billionaire talked about the automated future while on a Tesla earnings call Wednesday.

Elon Musk told investors that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology is improving, and he expects it to be safer than a human driver within the year, reports said. Though, Musk admits that’s a low bar.

“I would be shocked if we do not achieve full-self-driving safer than a human this year. I would be shocked,” Musk said. “… (But) being safer than a human is a low standard, not a high standard. People are often distracted, tired, texting. … It’s remarkable that we don’t have more accidents.”

Musk has made bold claims about fully-autonomous cars before, but those haven’t come to fruition so far. However, he thinks we need to prepare for life with cars that drive themselves.

What would that look like? For one, Elon Musk said, drivers could enroll their cars in Tesla’s ride-hailing service when they’re not using them. That would make parking much easier.

“A lot of cars are in parking lots, so we’re spending money, not just driving the cars but storing them all over the place,” he said on the call. “We can get rid of a lot of parking lots if you have a car that is operating all the time.”

But there’s an “insane” drawback, he said. It will cause a lot of traffic.

He pitched the Boring Company, his firm that builds underground tunnels, as a solution to that. Though, Musk may be overpromising here. The company built a pair of mile-long tunnels in Las Vegas in 2019 for $50 million. There have been congestion problems in the tunnels, reports said.

Joe Rogan: Cybertruck ‘Coolest Car’ He’s Ever Seen

Elon Musk said supply-chain problems are hampering Tesla’s production of the new Cybertruck, and he expects those problems to continue throughout 2022. That means the earliest we’ll see them on the road is 2023.

But podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan got an early look at the most recent prototype at the Tesla Gigafactory in Texas. He called the Cybertruck “the coolest car” he’d ever seen and a “huge leap into the future.” He shared photos of it on Instagram.

“The Cybertruck is the coolest car I’ve ever seen in my life,” he wrote. “Insanely attractive in real life, and feels like a huge leap into the future.”

Tesla debuted the Cybertruck in 2019 with delivery expected in 2021. But the pandemic stalled production plans. Elon Musk told investors Wednesday he hopes to start making the electric trucks next year.

“So we will not be introducing new vehicle models this year. It would not make any sense, because we would still be parts constrained,” Musk said. “We will, however, do a lot of engineering, tooling, what not to create those vehicles, as the Cybertruck, Semi, Roadster, Optimus, and be ready to bring those to production hopefully next year. That is the most likely. That is dependent upon ‘are we able to produce more cars or fewer cars?’”