Self-driving Tesla robotaxi coming in 2020: Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the electric car maker is ready to fly autonomous robotaxis from 2020.

Making a series of bold predictions during the Tesla Autonomy Day at the Palo Alto-based headquarters late on Monday, Musk said the company expects to get necessary approvals by 2020.

"I feel very confident predicting that there will be autonomous robotaxis from Tesla next year -- not in all jurisdictions because we won't have regulatory approval everywhere," TechCrunch reported Musk as saying.

"In places where there aren't enough people to share their cars, Tesla would provide a dedicated fleet of robotaxis," the report added.

Tesla Founder and CEO hoped that robotaxis would return home and automatically park and recharge.

Tesla also unveiled a new Samsung-made microchip that, the company said, was being included in every new car.

Musk said that by the middle of 2020, Tesla's autonomous system will have improved to the point where drivers will not have to pay attention to the road.

"We will have more than one million robotaxis on the road," Musk said. "A year from now, we'll have over a million cars with full self-driving, software... everything."

He said Tesla would soon develop cars that could last for at least one million miles with minimal maintenance.

Taxi hailing company Uber is also planning the next generation of transportation - flying taxis.

It has named Dallas and Los Angeles in the US as the first two cities for the commercial launch of its aerial taxi service by 2023 and has been on the lookout to select an international city as its third partner.

Uber has shortlisted five countries -- India, Japan, Australia, Brazil and France -- and a city in one of them will become the first Uber Air City outside of the US.

--IANS

na/mag/