Connect with us
tesla hands free tesla hands free

News

Experts’ dismissal of Tesla’s Full Self Driving push proves Elon Musk is still not taken seriously

(Credit: My Tesla Adventure/YouTube)

Published

5 years ago

on

Despite delays, Elon Musk remains optimistic that Tesla’s efforts to achieve Full Self Driving will bear fruit soon. This was highlighted in a statement during his appearance at the recently held 2020 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in China, where he noted that Tesla is closing in on “Level 5” functionalities. Experts in the field of automation beg to differ. 

In a recent statement to Automotive News, Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights (formerly Navigant Research) and Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University, openly dismissed Tesla’s efforts to achieve full self driving. In a scathing rebuke, Abuelsamid described Musk’s targets as absurd. He also expressed his pessimism about Tesla’s approach to automation, which focuses on vision and artificial intelligence. 

“The cars they are building will never be Level 5, period. It’s nonsense. He needs to shut up until he can deliver something. The premise of making highly automated systems on cameras alone is fundamentally flawed. Their approach to software doing end-to-end AI systems is almost certainly not going to work. I don’t believe it can work. AI is too brittle,” he said. 

It should be noted that Abuelsamid recently published a study ranking companies that are currently pursuing autonomy. Similar to studies conducted by Guidehouse Insights when it was still operating as Navigant Research, Abuelsamid ranked Tesla dead last, even behind startups like Navya, which have limited real world driving data. 

Abuelsamid’s sentiments were echoed by Missy Cummings, who also argued that there is no way that Tesla could achieve Level 5 autonomy with its vehicles. In a statement to KCBS Radio, Cummings noted that Elon Musk likely does not understand what Level 5 Automation really is. This is an interesting comment from the director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University, considering that Waymo CEO John Krafcik noted last year that ultimately, “Level 5 is a bit of a myth.”

Advertisement

“There is no way, shape, or form the car is going to be Level 5. He doesn’t really understand what Level 5 is. I think what he means is Level 4, and he’s not even going to get Level 4. The perception systems don’t work well in weather conditions, with long shadows. We know the Tesla perception system, and the news is it’s a really bad system,” she remarked. 

While there is some merit in criticizing the Tesla CEO for missing his targets with regards to the release of the electric car maker’s full self driving system, it seems far too careless to simply dismiss all the work that Tesla has accomplished over the years either. The company, after all, is gathering real world driving data at an unprecedented scale that’s unrivaled by companies like Waymo, and that matters much when it comes to training neural networks, as emphasized by ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood. Tesla’s vision based approach to autonomy has also gained support from notable names such as George Hotz, who believes that Tesla would eventually become the Apple of self driving cars.

It is unfortunate, but based on the dismissive and almost aggressive rebuke of Tesla’s efforts from the experts tapped by Automotive News, it appears there is still a general tendency to completely dismiss Elon Musk and his initiatives. Interestingly enough, these statements are pretty familiar to those who have followed the SpaceX and Tesla story over the years. It may be difficult to recall at this point, but there was a time when it was believed that landing the Falcon 9 first stage on land and an autonomous barge on the sea is impossible. There was also a time when the Model X was considered unbuildable. 

Fortunately, Tesla and its CEO are a stubborn bunch, and it takes a lot more than skepticism to discourage the company. This is especially notable considering that Tesla is currently looking to roll out a massive rewrite of its Autopilot suite, which should take the company even closer to full self driving. Perhaps this time around, Elon Musk’s statements about Level 5 Autonomy may actually be pretty accurate, at least in terms of its features and timeframe. 

“I’m extremely confident that level five or essentially complete autonomy will happen, and I think, will happen very quickly,” said Musk, answering another question. I think at Tesla, I feel like we are very close to level five autonomy. I think—I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality for level five autonomy complete this year,” Musk said at the 2020 WAIC.

Advertisement
Related Topics:

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk hits back at drug use claims, calls publications ‘hypocrites’

Elon Musk showed a clean drug test, dispelling any rumors of drug use that came from unfounded reports from two large media outlets.

Published

12 hours ago

on

June 17, 2025

By

Credit: Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to a report from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, as both publications claimed he was abusing drugs while being involved with President Trump on both the campaign trail and while he was active within the administration after the election.

A bombshell report from the New York Times, published in late May, stated that Musk was regularly using things like ketamine, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms, and also stimulants like Adderall, during his time within the Trump administration.

The reports cited inside sources who claimed the Tesla and SpaceX frontman was using substances during his time with the government.

However, Musk published the results of a recent drug test performed at Fastest Labs of South Austin. They showed ‘Negative’ results across the board:

Musk was not done there.

He went on to say the New York Times “lies as easy as breathing. It’s normal for them.” He also said both the Times and Wall Street Journal reporters should also publish their own drug test results, stating, “They won’t, because those hypocrites are guilty as sin.”

Musk said years ago that he received ketamine prescriptions from doctors to treat depression. He said he had it “years ago and said so on X, so this is not even news.” He also said that ketamine “helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven’t taken it since then.”

Tesla fans and Musk enthusiasts have joked for days now that, if Musk were to be on drugs, other CEOs should also do them, considering his persistence on work-related projects, long hours, and commitment to his job.

Musk has now proven that there has been no drug use with this test, and it seems as if the reports could have some sort of legal impact, although he has not said he will take any action.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla’s Grok integration will be more realistic with this cool feature

Tesla is preparing Grok for its first integration into vehicles, but it’s making it more robust than ever, firmware shows.

Published

13 hours ago

on

June 17, 2025

By

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has not yet integrated the AI assistant Grok into its vehicles, but when it does, it will be even more realistic with a new feature that firmware coding shows.

CEO Elon Musk teased a few months back that Grok would be making its way into vehicles in the near future. The implementation has not yet occurred, but we are confident it will be rolling out soon, especially as Tesla has its sights set on a near-term rollout of the Robotaxi platform.

Tesla’s vehicles expected to get Grok voice assistant—but when?

Grok will enable AI assistance for drivers who are both manually operating Tesla vehicles or using the company’s Full Self-Driving suite. It has been widely popular and extremely useful for users on X, Musk’s social media platform.

However, Tesla hacker green has revealed through firmware that the company is planning to roll out Grok into vehicles with personalities, giving it an even more realistic tone that is totally customizable and catered to whatever the driver wants.

There are also a handful of kids’ versions that will do things like tell stories or play trivia:

The true capabilities of Grok are nearly limitless. Back in January, Musk said on a livestream on X that, “You’ll be able to talk to your Tesla and ask for anything.”

Grok appears to only be available on AMD-based vehicles, according to other things green found in the firmware. This means that Intel-based Teslas, which are usually older models, will not enable Grok support for right now.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla dominates Cars.com’s Made in America Index with clean sweep

Tesla continues to dominate Cars.com’s Made in America Index with a clean sweep of the Top 4 spots.

Published

16 hours ago

on

June 17, 2025

By

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has dominated the Cars.com Made-in-America Index with a clean sweep of the top four spots. All four Tesla vehicles that were eligible for the analysis placed in the top four.

The Model 3 overtook the Model Y for first place this year. The all-electric crossover was first in 2024, but the Model 3 managed to overtake its sibling vehicle to claim the top spot in 2025. The Model Y took second, while the Model S took third, and the Model X took fourth.

This is an improvement from last year, as the Model Y took first, but the Model S and Model X placed fourth and ninth, respectively. The Model 3 was not in the Top 10 in 2024.

“Tesla continues to lead, claiming the top four spots and showcasing its commitment to domestic production. About 25% of the more than 400 vehicles on sale in the U.S. made this year’s AMI, and whether a vehicle is No. 1 or No.99, it contributes to the U.S. economy,” Patrick Masterson, lead researcher for the program, said.

More than 400 vehicles were analyzed for this year’s study, with Cars.com officially ranking 117 of them. There were two other EVs in the Top 10, as the Kia EV6 took sixth place, and the Volkswagen ID.4 finished in tenth.

This year’s study reflected major geographic and strategic shifts across the automotive industry. Of the 117 vehicles ranked in the program, they were produced at 36 domestic factories, leaving only 11 total factories that did not yield a car on the list. There are 47 assembly plants in operation in the U.S.

However, there still has not been a vehicle to quite reach the 100 percent domestic parts content, something that is extremely elusive. Masterson says the global supply chain is still extremely crucial to even the most American-built cars on the market.

The average domestic parts content of the Top 10 cars was 83.4 percent in 2006, but that number has shrunk to 70.3 percent in this year’s rankings.

Some might wonder where cars like the Tesla Cybertruck or Rivian R1T are on the list. However, these vehicles did not qualify because the study only considers cars under a gross weight of 8,500 pounds.

Continue Reading

Trending