Bloomberg has reported that Silicon Valley-based Tesla Motors’ Elon Musik had recently discussed the possibility of installing driverless technology in its brand new electric cars with the help of search engine giant Google. However, the two companies were not able to thrash out a solution for making Tesla cars driverless because the technology that Google is using to make vehicles drive by themselves is quite expensive in comparison to camera-based systems. Here is what Musk said after discussing the possibility with Mountain View-based company:
“The problem with Google’s current approach is that the sensor system is too expensive. It’s better to have an optical system, basically cameras with software that is able to figure out what’s going on just by looking at things… “We’ve had some technical discussions with Google” about its Light Detection and Ranging, or Lidar, laser tracking system, Musk said last week, noting that it’s an expensive approach that may not prove feasible.”
Although, there is still a possibility that Google could add the driverless technology in the future models of Tesla cars, but talking to Bloomberg Musk said that it is quite likely that they might produce their own “autopilot system”. However, Tesla would not be the first motor vehicle manufacturer to do so, as companies like Audi, Lexus and Toyota are already developers their own platforms. In fact, the aforementioned motor vehicle companies have displayed their driverless car technology at the 2013 Consumer Electronic Show that was held in the second of January.
In an email sent yesterday (Monday, May 6th) Musk wrote that, “I think Tesla will most likely develop its own autopilot system for the car, as I think it should be camera-based, not Lidar-based. However, it is also possible that we do something jointly with Google.”
The discussion between the two companies was not surprising at all because both the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the initial investors of Tesla Motors until it went public about three years ago. Moreover, last month Brin was spotted driving a custom-designed Tesla Model S close to the head quarter of Google. On top of it several unconfirmed rumours had previously suggested that Tesla was perhaps developing cars in which Google would integrate self driving technology.
So far several states have granted licenses to Brin and Page’s company for texting self driving vehicles on the streets of the city, but Nevada was first to support these efforts from Google.
Source: 9to5Google
Photo: BusinessWeek
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