Yesterday, Elon Musk, the flashy founder of Tesla unveiled a new chip for automated vehicles. He was speaking at Tesla’a first ever ‘Autonomy Day’ with investors. He said, the new chips will deliver full self-driving capabilities to next-generation Tesla’s. Elon also announced his prediction that there will be more than one million self-driving Tesla cars on the road by 2020.
Elon spoke frankly as usual. According to him, many did not find it probable that Tesla could invent the best chip in the world, especially when they have never designed a cheap before. However, he added, Tesla’s cheap are the best in the world, objectively.
All new Tesla’s in manufacturing right now will contain the latest cheap. Furthermore, he also requested all current Tesla drivers to update their software to avail a complete self-driving experience.
New Tesla Systems Promises Two Heads for Additional Safety
Newly announced Tesla computer system will embed two chips, working next-to-each-other. These new chips aim for redundancy, to provide complete safety during chip-related mishaps.
According to Mr. Musk, A human losing consciousness at the wheel is much more probable now than the system failing.
Tesla’s vice president, Peter Bannon said, Tesla’s new system is low cost and low power. He also dubbed it as ‘simple and straightforward’.
According to him, the chip can process 2.5 billion pixels per second with its 6 billion transistors. This is very important as Tesla’s neural network is expected to set it apart from its competitors like Volkswagen, which deploys over 20 cameras on board to visualize the next course of action. Conversely, Tesla deploys only 8 cameras, which can rotate on a 360-degree axis to provide vision.
Elon Sidelines LiDAR Technology
LiDAR technology deploys lasers to provide more vision to sensors during nights. This technology is considered important by many experts in the field. However, Elon Musk called LiDAR a ‘fool’s errand’. He added that the technology is unnecessary and expensive.
He also announced Tesla’s plans to improve vision with a new chip. According to him, Tesla would introduce a new chip in next two years, which will provide three times more vision in the future.
