Although Google is the company that’s garnered the most attention when it comes to driverless automobile technology, they’re not the only ones looking to make a big push into the market – a market that is expected to grow quickly over the next couple of decades.
Tesla is making a move to develop their own self-driving cars, and CEO Elon Musk is looking for a team to report directly to him. Musk tweeted that there is an “intense effort” at the company to develop a “practical autopilot system” for the Model S.
Intense effort underway at Tesla to develop a practical autopilot system for Model S
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013
He basically tweeted out a job posting as well:
Engineers interested in working on autonomous driving, pls email [email protected] Team will report directly to me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Tesla’s forward-thinking strategy. Plus, Musk said back in May that his company would eventually go in this direction.
Tesla is looking to build a car that would be up to 90% self-driving in the next few years.
Some analysts have suggested that half of all U.S. automobile sales could come in the form of driverless models by the year 2032. Of course, this not only depends on the rate of development of the technology, but also the speed in which states pass new laws governing driverless cars. With a strong push from Google, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a driverless car law into effect back in September of last year. Other states are also looking at ways to regulate the new tech.
For Elon Musk, pitching a self-driving car to the public would be another task in convincing some drivers that the Tesla is the right car for them. Despite positive sales and recent news that the Tesla Model S is basically the safest car out there, some car-buyers are still wary of the electric model in general. Musk is looking to assuage those concerns by making a cross-country trip using Tesla’s supercharger stations placed strategically across the U.S. He claims that he’ll only need to charge his Model S for about 9 hours total to make it from Los Angeles to New York City.
Image via Tesla Motors