Reports Say Tesla Is Developing A Self-Driving Car

With all the buzz over autonomous automobiles these days – among other automakers currently in the race, Nissan recently pledged it would bring a self-driving car of its own to market by decade’s end – it comes as no surprise that high-tech darling Tesla Motors would be working on its own auto piloted model.

That’s according to an Automotive News report based on of all things, the want ads. Specifically, a Twitter tweet posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk that revealed, “Intense effort under way at Tesla to develop a practical autopilot system for Model S. Engineers interested in working on autonomous driving, pls email autopilot@teslamotors.com. Team will report directly to me.”

What’s more, according to an interview in the Financial Times, Musk says the company hopes to have a “90 percent” self-driving model within three years, with a fully autonomous car entering production farther down the road.

This makes a world of sense, as upstart Tesla has to date – specifically with the universally well received Model S full-electric sedan – made its fortunes on the bleeding edge of technology, and there’s no hotter prospect in that regard in the auto industry than self-driving cars. Automotive News notes that Tesla plans 21,000 deliveries of the $70,000-plus Model S this year, and that number could double during 2014 with growth expected in European and Asian markets; by comparison, EVs offered by mainstream makes like Nissan and Mitsubishi are languishing on dealers’ lots and are being sold with hefty incentives.

We’d be willing to bet Tesla intenders might be more willing to be the first in their upscale subdivisions to make what should be a costly bet on one of the first autonomous driving vehicles than, say, comparatively conservative Mercedes-Benz or Cadillac loyalists, and certainly more than price-sensitive Nissan customers. If anything, its chief rival might be fellow Silicon Valley tech pioneer Google, which reportedly has logged more than 300,000 miles on its own homegrown fleet of prototype autopilot models without an accident.

A good sign (at least for Tesla) is that the Twitter feed indicates the project will be supervised by Musk himself, who is increasingly looking like the auto industry’s equivalent of the late Steve Jobs. Stay tuned.




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