Tesla seems to be significantly ramping its efforts to attain autonomous driving by the end of 2020. A new dedicated landing page about Autopilot AI and Full Self-Driving recently went live on Tesla’s official website, hinting that Tesla is focusing on autonomy more. A particularly interesting video showcasing what Teslas see while navigating around city streets revealed how close the company is to breaking autonomous driving and may explain why Tesla is ramping its efforts for FSD and Autopilot.
Titled “Autopilot AI,” the landing page discussed several pillars of the company’s FSD strategy, from its dedicated hardware, its neural network, its autonomy algorithms, code foundations, and evaluation infrastructure. A form is also present at the bottom of the screen, inviting interested individuals to apply for the electric car maker.
The fact that Tesla’s new Autopilot AI page is essentially a recruitment tool for the company shows just how focused Tesla is to attaining a consumer-ready version of its Full Self-Driving suite as soon as possible. Elon Musk noted last year that he believed FSD could be ready by the end of 2019, and this proved to be too optimistic. So in 2020, Tesla maybe even more determined to roll out the complete version of its autonomous driving suite to its fleet.
What unreleased FSD Autopilot sees. Straight from Tesla Autopilot recruiting website. pic.twitter.com/EaI5DzKbYs
— The Tesla Show (@TheTeslaShow) January 31, 2020
Tesla’s focus on FSD and Autopilot is not really new, and its work towards autonomy can be seen in a video showcasing how Teslas "see" and process information. Many members of the electric car community, including those who have extensive knowledge of AI, greatly appreciated the video.
Among these was noted futurist Robert Scoble--who owns a Model 3--as well as resident Tesla hacker, @greentheonly--who has been diving deep into company's software for years. The consensus appears to be that Tesla has made a lot of headway in its camera+AI approach to autonomy, and the company is indeed taking steps towards full self-driving.
In a way, the details shown in Tesla’s Autopilot AI recruiting page mirrors a statement shared by CEO Elon Musk in the recently-held Earnings call.
“What isn't obvious regarding Autopilot and Full Self-Driving is just how much work has been going into improving the foundational elements of autonomy.
"The core autopilots in Tesla or Autopilot software and AI team is I think very, very strong in making great progress. And we're only beginning to take full advantage of the Autopilot hardware and the FSD hardware,” Musk said.
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