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Title: Elon Musk says Tesla owners can ΓÇÿtext and driveΓÇÖ very soon

Link: https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/e...

Elon Musk went on stage on Thursday night during TeslaΓÇÖs annual
shareholders meeting and made some big claims and promises. The company is
ΓÇ£almost comfortableΓÇ¥ letting owners with Full Self-Driving (FSD) ΓÇ£text
and drive,ΓÇ¥ he said. At the moment, its vehicles are still strictly
monitoring drivers to make sure their eyes are on the road, but Musk said
that Tesla will enable unsupervised FSD that will allow texting and driving
within ΓÇ£a month or two.ΓÇ¥

To note, TeslaΓÇÖs FSD is currently capable of level 2 autonomous driving.
Musk is promising at least a level 4 capability, in which the driver can be
disengaged as the car performs all driving tasks for them, within a short
span of time. While he said that Tesla will look at its safety data first, he
didnΓÇÖt discuss the steps itΓÇÖs taking to enable texting while driving and
whether itΓÇÖs already discussing the legalities of it with regulators.

Talking about the Cybercab, Musk said production of the robotaxis will begin
by April next year. Since it will be specifically built with autonomy in
mind, it will not have pedals, a steering wheel and even side mirrors. The
CybercabΓÇÖs manufacturing process, he explained, is vastly different from
typical car production and is more comparable to phone manufacturing.
ThatΓÇÖs why he thinks the company will be able to produce one unit every 10
seconds.

Musk also talked about the flying car he teased on Joe RoganΓÇÖs show. When
asked at the event, he said the demo will now take place on April 1, 2026,
instead of this month or the next like he told Rogan. It remains to be seen
whether weΓÇÖre going to get April Fooled, but Musk claimed that production
of TeslaΓÇÖs flying vehicle will happen a year or so after its unveiling. As
always, take MuskΓÇÖs claims with a grain of salt, as heΓÇÖs pretty infamous
for being overly ambitious with his timelines.

While Musk was on stage talking about TeslaΓÇÖs plans, an Optimus humanoid
robot was standing by the side. The CEO said Optimus is bound to become the
ΓÇ£biggest product of all time,ΓÇ¥ bigger than cellphones, ΓÇ£bigger than
anything.ΓÇ¥ Tesla will start with a 1-million production line and then a 10-
million production line, but he said the company expects to eventually
produce 100 million to a billion Optimus robots a year. He envisions a world
wherein the humanoid machines will provide people with medical care… as
well as a world wherein instead of being jailed, Optimus follows criminals
around to stop them from committing more crimes.

Before Musk went on stage, TeslaΓÇÖs shareholders had voted to approve his
pay package worth up to $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Tesla has to hit
several goals for Musk to become the first trillionaire, though, including
reaching a market value of $8.5 trillion from its current worth of $1.4
billion and selling a million Optimus robots.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/e...
text-and-drive-very-soon-042454805.html?src=rss

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