Model S

Make
Tesla
Segment
Sedan

When it comes to fully autonomous cars, we are a long way away. The closest automaker to pulling it off appears to be Tesla with its Autopilot feature. This system definitely isn't perfect, but it is one of the closest things that the world has to a self-driving production car. We all know that Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has big ambitions, so his latest announcement doesn't even come as much surprise. According to a report on Wired, Musk wants to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that will allow Tesla cars to run self-driving functionality.

Musk claimed that an AI chip would save lives by driving at least 10 times more safely than a human. "We get there faster if we have dedicated AI hardware," Musk said. Speaking to AI experts from companies such as Alphabet and Uber at an AI conference, Musk didn't say how far along Tesla is in developing AI, or when it will reach production. This seems like an odd time for Tesla to be pouring R&D money into AI, when Model 3 production is already so far behind schedule. That's also before considering the ramifications of creating AI and the potential threat that it poses to humanity. Hasn't Elon Musk seen the second Avengers movie?

At the conference, Musk joked about the threat of AI by saying that "You've all heard me sound the alarm bell-there he goes again," to a laughing audience. "I also think there are things where AI can really be useful, well before you get to godlike uber intelligence." Musk clearly has big dreams for his autopilot system. When asked about the functionality of the AI chips, he predicted that Tesla cars would drive themselves better than a human in under two years, and 10 times better than a human in three years. As long as Teslas don't rise up and conquer the human race, we think we'd be ok with that.