Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reported that his company’s self-driving technology will be ready before the end of the year and that the company hopes to release the Level 4-capable system in the United States and Europe pending regulatory approval.
Speaking at an energy conference in Norway this week, Musk said his attention was currently divided between his SpaceX Starship spacecraft program and self-driving Tesla cars.
“(We aim to) have self-driving in wide release at least in the US and potentially in Europe depending on regulatory approval.”
Tesla has fallen behind rival Mercedes-Benz in gaining regulatory approval for its self-driving technology. The German firm was granted approval for its Drive Pilot Level 3 autonomous driving system last December.
Tesla said last year that it will likely achieve its plans for Level 4 autonomous driving by the end of 2022 and that key milestones in the development of full self-driving (FSD) have been achieved.
“I think it’s got to be two or three times safer than a human, so two- or three-times lower probability of injury than a human,” he said.
The news comes the same week as Tesla seeks to overturn a ban on direct car sales in the US state of Louisiana.
Tesla Incorporated has filed a lawsuit to challenge the state’s refusal to allow it to sell vehicles directly to customers (in an agency style model), calling the Louisiana’s move “protectionist and anti-competitive”.
In the US there are protesters who claim that both electric cars and FSD cars are dangerous and are campaigning against them. The Tesla that saved a drunk driver who passed out behind the wheel garnered some mixed reactions from people.