SA-born Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed last week at a conference in Norway that results from tests on its semi-autonomous driving system show the probability of an accident happening is 50% lower.
Musk spoke with Norwegian government minister, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, at a conference, called 'Future transport solutions', about his views on the necessity of accelerating the transition to a post-fossil fuel economy.
Last October, Tesla launched 'Autopilot' features that can be downloaded by Tesla vehicles to enable them to steer and park themselves. Musk estimated that within three years, cars would be able to drive "from your driveway to work without you touching anything", but regulatory approval could take years.
The Tesla CEO said at the conference early data from the Autopilot program showed the Autopilot features reduce the chance of accidents.
"The probability of having an accident is 50% lower if you have Autopilot on... Even with this early version, it's almost twice as good as a person."
The company is working on a second version of Autopilot that Musk expects to be fully autonomous and ready in two years.
According to Electrek, a news site tracking the transition from fossil fuel transportation to electric, Tesla car owners have already driven over 75 million kilometres on Autopilot.
"I think it's going to be important in terms of satisfying regulators and the public to show statistically, with a large amount of data - with billions of kilometres of driving - to say that the safety level is definitively better, by a meaningful margin, if it's autonomous versus non-autonomous," said Musk.
Tesla recently unveiled the Tesla Model 3, touted as an affordable electric vehicle for the masses. Musk said at the conference the car will be a great fit for middle class families in Europe. The Model 3 will come standard with Autopilot software.
There have been over 400 000 pre-orders for the car that will only go into production next year.
The more Tesla cars on the road, the more Autopilot kilometres will add up. This data will aid in making a meaningful case for the safety of self-driving cars to regulators, explained Musk.
At the conference, he said autonomous vehicles are key to future transport solutions. He was asked how long he thought it would take for people to trust autonomous cars. "I think people will trust them surprisingly quickly. The feedback we have gotten from Autopilot version one has been extremely positive."
Many automakers ? including Ford, BMW, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz ? are all making advances in semi-autonomous features for their cars, including traffic jam assistance and active speed limiters. Honda, Toyota and Nissan all aim to bring self-driving cars to market by 2020.
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