If there was any doubt that self-driving cars are gaining mainstream momentum, then Tesla’s founder Elon Musk (above) clears a lot of it up with his thoughts on the technology.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the Tesla co-founder said the driverless vehicle technology, which he prefers to call “auto-pilot,” seems as logical for cars as it does for airplanes.
Musk told the business news source that Tesla is currently exploring self-driving cars and has discussed prospective systems with Google.
Google, which has positioned itself at the forefront of the technology, seems like a likely partner for Tesla considering that the search engine’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were early investors in the electric vehicle company before it went public.
However, Musk said Google’s current development approach to the technology isn’t cost-efficient and that Tesla would likely develop its own autopilot system, reports Bloomberg.
“The problem with Google’s current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive,” Musk reportedly told the business source. “It’s better to have an optical system, basically cameras with software that is able to figure out what’s going on just by looking at things.”
Bloomberg reports that Musk, known for his often candid interviews, then wrote a follow-up post on Twitter downplaying his comments.
“Am a fan of Larry, Sergey & Google in general, but self- driving cars comments to Bloomberg were just off-the-cuff,” Musk wrote. “No big announcement here.”
However, chances are the billionaire tech genius is already busy hammering out detailed plans for a Tesla EV capable of going into autopilot.
In fact, I’m pretty certain of it.
With a number of highly coveted Car of the Year awards now under its belt, Tesla has become one of the most recognized brands in the world when it comes to technologically advanced vehicles, despite a few bumps in the road.
I sincerely doubt Mr. Musk would risk losing that kind of charge with or without his friends over at Google.
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