Elon Musk, CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla Corporation, disclosed during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 9 that some owners of the Tesla Model S will have the opportunity to test hands-free driving by the end of June.
He said that the testing phase is meant to ensure that auto-pilot cars from Telsa will also become road ready soon, details the LA Times.
Musk spoke before a jampacked shareholders meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California where he discussed in detail the potentials for robotic cars. He said the first phase of auto-pilot development requires that drivers need to be fully alert and should always be ready to take over the driving anytime.
He explained that the auto-pilot feature is meant to alleviate part of the burden of driving from the driver but not totally replace him. The Tesla CEO said that the feature would still be legal because the driver would remain responsible for the control of the car and that he will remain in the driver’s seat, clarifying that it is not an abdication of responsibility for steering.
Fully autonomous system
However, Musk revealed that Tesla is aiming for a fully autonomous or a self-driving car in about three years.
He said that in the fully autonomous system, there will be a fully operational auto-pilot with everything that is needed for someone to go to sleep from the point of origin and wake up at their destination.
The Tesla CEO admits however that it is a tough task and an extremely difficult engineering project.
He explained that the company would want a fully robotic car to be at least 10 times safer than a car driven by human before they decide to roll it out in the public. Musk added that the more difficult challenge actually is convincing the regulators.
Common problem
Although the disappearing power door handle is one of the groundbreaking exterior features of Tesla electric cars, it is also one of the most common problems besieging its vehicle lines.
The door handles in the Model S retract electrically so they rest flush with the sides of the car when they’re not in use. Once the driver walks up to the car with the key fob in his pocket, the handles shall move out to allow the driver to grip them.
Tesla Model S has been undergoing testing as of late before the company officially launches and rolls it out to the market either late this year or early next year, but according to reports, the brand new $127,000 Tesla Model S, whose performance version is called the P85D, hit a snag during its testing phase.