Electric car giant Tesla will have fully self-driving cars “later this year,” Elon Musk said on Thursday, the billionaire’s latest prediction for the long-awaited milestone.
“As far as Tesla is concerned at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving fully autonomous driving without human supervision,” Musk said via video link at the opening of an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai.
“This is just speculation, but I think we’ll be fully autonomous later this year, maybe you’d call it four or five,” the billionaire added, referring to the two most advanced levels of self-driving technology.
The mercurial entrepreneur and Twitter owner admitted that his previous predictions about this timeline were wrong, but added: “I feel like we’re closer to it than we’ve ever been.”
Musk has already missed the deadline for fully self-driving cars, and Tesla’s driver-assistance technology has sparked investigations by U.S. regulators.
China is the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, and Tesla announced in April that it would build a second large-scale factory in Shanghai.
His attendance at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai marks his latest effort to maintain close ties with China, following a visit to the country in May.
In China, the world’s largest car market, where electric vehicles account for a quarter of sales, domestic and foreign brands launched dozens of new models in April at the country’s first auto show since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
Tesla reported a drop in profit in the first quarter of this year as the company implemented a series of price cuts in the face of competition from other automakers.