--- title: "Elon Musk Promises for the Millionth Time That Tesla Will Achieve Full Self-Driving Soon" description: "Just as he's done for the better part of the past decade, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will achieve full-self driving in the near future." date: "2023-07-07" modified: "2023-07-07" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-promises-tesla-full-self-driving-again" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "full self-driving" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Promises for the Millionth Time That Tesla Will Achieve Full Self-Driving Soon ![Just as he's done for the better part of the past decade, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will achieve full-self driving in the near future.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Sure, Elon Lo and behold: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has upgraded his perennial promise that Tesla will achieve full self-driving "[next year]()" to "this year." The jokes [practically write themselves]() at this point. After all**,** he has an unbeaten, nearly decade-long streak of promising that full-self driving will be achieved "next year" — [every year since 2014](). But Musk was being very serious — or so we think — during his talk at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Thursday. "I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision," Musk told his audience, [as quoted by *Electrek*]()*.* "This is only speculation, but I think we'll achieve full self-driving, maybe what you would call four or five, I think later this year." ## Next Level If you know a thing or two about the [SAE standards of driving automation]() Musk is referring to, you might begin to suspect that he's talking out of his rear end. For those out of the loop, the SAE standards delineate levels of autonomous driving on a scale of levels 0 through 5, with Level 5 meaning a car can fully drive itself without intervention. Tesla's [misleadingly named]() Full Self-Driving beta [is only at Level 2](), technically requiring the driver to stay alert and intervene at any moment (though [some Tesla drivers]() ignore this minimal measure). So for Musk to claim that Tesla will somehow leapfrog Level 3 and make it to four *or* five by this year is patently ridiculous. That "or" is worth examining, too, since the difference between those levels is *massive*. While both mean that your driving experience will be totally hands-off, Level 4 vehicles are only autonomous in certain conditions or locations, like [driverless robotaxis]() designed for (and limited to) specific cities. Meanwhile, Level 5 means that a vehicle will be fully autonomous in any weather, any road conditions, anywhere in the world — something no car company has come even close to yet. ## Broken Record Take Musk's vague and off-the-cuff predictions with a grain of salt, in other words. It's probably been said that he sounds like a broken record at this point, but that would be unkind to broken records, which usually aren't left on to bother you for nine or so years. We should also add that there is a [heap of ongoing]() [legal complications]() regarding Full Self-Driving and Autopilot that may continue to hinder Tesla's progress, including a weighty [investigation]() by the Justice Department. So go off Elon — we'll believe it when we see it. **More on Tesla:** *[The Number of Known Deaths Involving Tesla's Autopilot Has Surged]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()