Elon Musk: automakers don’t believe Tesla Full Self-Driving is real

Elon Musk says that other automakers don’t believe Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) is “real” as Tesla tries to sell FSD licenses.

Back in 2021, Musk did say that he had early discussions with other automakers about licensing self-driving technology, but that didn’t lead to anything.

Last year, the CEO made an announcement that Tesla would be open to licensing Autopilot and FSD to other automakers.

During Tesla’s Q4 conference call that followed the release of the earnings, shareholders asked Musk about talks with other automakers about licensing FSD.

The CEO confirmed that Tesla had conversations about it with other automakers, but they don’t believe it’s “real”:

I really think lots of car companies should be asking for FSD licenses. And we’ve had some tentative conversations, but I think they don’t believe it’s real quite yet. I think that that will become obvious probably this year. 

Musk then called again for CEOs of car companies to engage with Tesla about licensing FSD.

Tesla recently started pushing its FSD Beta v12 update, which includes an architectural rewrite of the system to include end-to-end neural nets. Previously, the vehicle’s controls were not powered by neural nets.

The CEO previously claimed that FSD v12 would come to customers not in “beta”, but it hasn’t been the case.

FSD Beta drivers still need to keep their hands on their steering wheels and be ready to take control at all times.

Electrek’s Take

Are you surprised that they don’t believe it’s real when you have said every year that it would come by the end of the year, and it never comes?

And by it coming, I mean what was promised: a true level 4 or 5 self-driving system.

Now, Elon again seems to say that it will be coming this year, but it’s hard to give any credibility to his statement.

It’s a hard problem to solve. I can’t deny that, but I find it hard to give too much slack to Tesla since it decided to already sell the FSD package to customers.

My main concern is the hardware limitations on existing HW3 vehicles. I think Tesla might find that it can’t deliver on its self-driving promise with the current hardware, but because it has already sold the package, it forces itself to find solutions.

That’s why I’m calling Tesla’s v12 the “last hope” for FSD. After the 12th version of the product and now a complete rewrite with neural nets end-to-end, what’s next if it doesn’t work?