Elon Musk says Tesla’s self-driving tech is better than humans

The man who single handedly turned the car industry on its head says we’re on the brink of a technological breakthrough bigger than electric cars.

Musk predicts self-driving cars will be a thing by the end of the year. Picture: Michel Euler/AFP

Tesla boss Elon Musk predicts that self-driving Teslas will be safer than those driven by humans by the end of this year.

The controversial boss, who is known for making bold predictions that don’t pan out, said AI-controlled cars would also be more comfortable to travel in.

“It will actually get to the point where it is not merely safer than a person but actually way smoother than manual driving,” he says.

It’s not the first time Musk has predicted the dawn of self-driving cars.

In 2019 he said people would be able to fall asleep in a robo-taxi by 2020.

Musk predicts self-driving cars will be a thing by the end of the year. Picture: Michel Euler/AFP

The tech entrepreneur defended his wayward predictions, explaining that every time his engineers thought they had perfected the technology, they discovered there was more work to be done.

“The thing that’s been really difficult with full self driving is that it very often seems like it’s about to happen until you realise that you’re actually at a local maximum, and that you need to re-architect elements of the software.

“I think we’re, we’re finally at a high enough local maximum, or will be this year, where it is I think probably safer than a person,” he says.

He predicts self-driving will be as profound a revolution in the car industry as electrification.

“I can’t say enough about the profundity of full-self driving. It is just one of the biggest changes in history that will occur. It’s not some feature. It’s really profound as electrification.

Elon Musk standing on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot. Picture: Supplied

“And we already have millions of cars on the road that will literally achieve this with a software update. I mean, that’s like head exploding emoji, you know.”

He says when it is introduced, “the probability of injury on average, will be better than a person even if someone pays no attention to the car”.

He claims a Tesla in self-driving mode, with human supervision, is “dramatically safer than manual driving. It’s like, I think, four times safer, maybe more”.

He predicted Tesla’s self driving tech will reach a point where it ”exceeds human-level safety this year”.

And he said the manufacturer was ahead of the curve on artificial intelligence for cars.

The company’s Model 3 and Model Y had already scored the highest rating of any car for driver assistance tech from the European New Car Assessment Program.

Acceptance from drivers and passengers had also grown in the last few years.

“I mean, the sort of significant other test is a very good test. Because there was a while there where it was like, you know, friends or significant others would be like, please don’t put it on. It’s too scary.”

Originally published as Elon Musk says Tesla’s self-driving tech is better than humans