Tesla markets its self-driving feature as one of its key selling points. However, the company’s co-founder disagrees with Elon Musk’s focus on autonomous driving.
Martin Eberhard told Insider he isn’t a big fan of having autonomous driving being the prime focus of Tesla cars. Eberhard, who Musk fired as Tesla CEO in 2007, said creating self-driving car software was his lowest priority.
He stated:
In my opinion, we need to get out of the habit of thinking about all of this autonomous stuff as being connected to EVs. They’re separate [and] I’d like to see people thinking about making cars that people can drive.
Tesla’s founder said he likes “safety-oriented systems” like driver-assist features but not autonomous driving. Musk, on the other hand, is investing huge money in developing fully autonomous, which Eberhard also criticized. He added:
All this FSD autonomous, autopilot crap — none of that existed when I was there. We were still busy trying to make the car work and we never thought about that at all. That came later. That requires a much, much bigger budget than we had.
Autopilot —Tesla’s autonomous driving system — is now standard on all Tesla models. The company’s Full Self-Driving beta feature costs $15,000 or $199 per month. The beta feature automatically changes lanes, enters and exits highways, and recognizes stop signs, traffic lights, and parks the car.
Both programs require a licensed driver to constantly monitor the system, and Tesla’s AI system collects driver data to improve the system. 285,000 people bought the feature by December 2022.
Controversies
Recently, Tesla issued recalls for full self-driving (FSD) equipped vehicles including the 2016 Model S and Model X, 2017 Model 3, and 2020 Model Y. According to details, the company has recalled a total of 362,758 cars.
Tesla suspects that FSD may allow a car to go beyond speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner, increasing the risk of a crash.
Speeding and not stopping at stop signs or yellow lights are also among the pertinent issues. FSD cars may “respond insufficiently” to speed limit changes, the recall summary added.
This feature has been subject to negative attention from people lately after reports of Tesla’s high-speed crashes around the world. In November 2022, a black Tesla Model Y ran past a red light in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China, colliding with two other vehicles.
Earlier that month, Tesla became the center of attention due to a ‘runaway’ Model Y that killed two people. Both vehicles reportedly had a technical fault in the FSD.
