Elon Musk said on Wednesday that the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles (EVs), Tesla, will likely introduce fully autonomous driving this year and make sizable profits to help offset some of the margin pressure brought on by dramatic price reduction.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk remarked on a conference call, “I hesitate to say this but I think we’ll do it this year.” Musk has consistently fallen short of his long-term goals for achieving self-driving technology.
Musk stated that there will be “two steps forward and one step back” between updates of the test version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, but that “the trend is very clearly towards full self driving and towards full autonomy.”
Following crashes, the technology has come under legal and regulatory scrutiny as it stands. According to car manufacturer, the technology does not make the automobile driverless; instead, it still needs driver involvement.
Financial Head of Tesla Zachary Kirkhorn Statement on Revenue Loss
According to Tesla’s financial head Zachary Kirkhorn, price reduction and increased deferred revenue for FSD software were both factors that reduced the company’s automotive margin in the first quarter.
However, Kirkhorn added that “this deferral should get recognized once some of the software catches up.” Kirkhorn made no more comment.
Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst for Guidehouse Insights, said that Tesla is altering the hardware of the car, temporarily disabling various FSD functionalities on newer models. FSD software is an add-on that Tesla offers for up to $15,000.
Late last year, the company announced some services including “smart summon” and “autopark” would be temporarily unavailable and took the ultrasonic sensors out of the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
“We do have this unique strategic advantage,” Musk said. “We are making a car that, if autonomy pans out, that asset will be worth a hell of a lot more in the future than it is now.”
On Wednesday, the EV firm revealed a lower-than-anticipated quarterly margin, but Musk declared that in a struggling economy, he would put the growth of sales above profits.
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