With numerous tech companies working on autonomous vehicles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes we'll all have access to cars that can drive themselves in the next decade.
The statement follows shortly after the electric car maker introduced a new autopilot feature for its line of electric sports vehicles on Thursday, according to CNET. The autopilot system uses radar, cameras and ultrasonic sensing to provide an experience similar to cruise-control.
Musk said that people thought a couple of years ago that we wouldn't see self-driving cars for another decade, but he sees the rate of improvement in the technology as a sign that it will come soon than previously believed. He added that the public may have to wait a few years after regulators are able to sign off on the technology.
"That will be the case at some point in the future. Like maybe five or six years from now I think we'll be able to achieve true autonomous driving where you could literally get in the car, go to sleep and wake up at your destination," he said.
The CEO added that the new autopilot system does not operate the same way as an autonomous system, CNET reported.
"Autopilot is what we have in airplanes," he explained. "For example we use the same term that is in airplanes where there is still an expectation that there will be a pilot. So the onus is on the pilot to make sure that the autopilot is doing the right thing."
Musk's statement about his confidence in autonomous technology in vehicles follows just a day after he talked with Walter Isaacson at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco about the threat of super-intelligent robots in humanity's future, CNET reported. He also tweeted over the summer that AI that have enough power could be "potentially more dangerous than nukes."
