March, 19, 2015—Tesla CEO Elon Musk referred to self-driving technology as a "solved problem," and said advances in autonomous vehicles could lead to the government outlawing humans driving their own vehicles, according to a recent report in Automotive News.
At a California conference held by graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp., Musk minimized the challenges ahead for self-driving vehicles to become prevalent.
The report said Musk compared autonomous vehicles with self-service elevators that used to require operators.
"In the distant future, I think people may outlaw driving cars because it's too dangerous," Musk was quoted as saying by Automotive News. "You can't have a person driving a 2-ton death machine."
According to Musk, while the technology is ready, the large scale of the industry’s manufacturing base will require time to change.
Musk later clarified his comments on Twitter, saying, “To be clear, Tesla is strongly in favor of people being allowed to drive their cars and always will be.”
