Artificial Intelligence in Practice

49Tesla: Using Artificial Intelligence To Build Intelligent Cars

Tesla is a pioneer in the development and marketing of electric cars. It also has a large stake in the future of autonomous vehicles – in fact every Tesla ever produced has the potential one day to become self-driving through software upgrades. It also manufactures and sells advanced batteries and solar panels.

Autonomy in cars is graded on a scale from one to five. Features such as adaptive cruise control and automated parking systems are classed as level 1, while fully autonomous vehicles, capable of driving anywhere on- or off-road with no driver intervention, are classed as level 5.

Tesla's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, has said that he believed his company's vehicles will achieve full (level 5) autonomy in 2019.

What Problems Is Artificial Intelligence Helping To Solve?

Driving requires human beings to be consistently at a high level of awareness for long periods of time. As the behavior of other drivers on the road, as well as circumstances such as the weather and road conditions, can be highly erratic and unpredictable, it's no surprise that over 40,000 people were killed in road accidents in the United States alone in 2017.

Of course, minor (not causing fatality or serious injury) accidents happen far more regularly – leading to a huge waste of resources and time.

And even if you don't have an accident, time spent driving is time that could be spent doing other things – whether being productive in a work ...