Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted one of his most ambitious plans early in January 2016. It is noteworthy that Tesla has just released its V7.1 software at that time, featuring its first Summon version.
For context, the feature enabled Tesla cars to enter or exit parking spaces without human drivers via a mobile app.
Indeed, Tesla’s Summon was highly innovative at that time since it actually demonstrated a driverless operation in every regard. Nonetheless, the company still emphasized that drivers remain solely accountable for their vehicles even when Summon is activated.
Thereafter, CEO Musk stated that the Summon feature could function “anywhere” as long as the route is connected by land and unimpeded by borders in 2 years or so.
“In ~2 years, summon should work anywhere connected by land & not blocked by borders, eg you’re in LA and the car is in NY.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Unfortunately, that plan did not materialize as per CEO Musk’s set timeline. Teslarati reported the Tesla boss’ explanation for the coast-to-coast demo’s delay in February 2018:
“We could have done the coast-to-coast drive, but it would have required too much specialized code to effectively game it or make it somewhat brittle and that it would work for one particular route, but not the general solution.
So I think we would be able to repeat it, but if it’s just not any other route, which is not really a true solution.”
Tesla CEO Musk stated at the Q4 2018 earnings call (via Teslarati)
CEO Musk’s hint
It has been many years since Tesla or the CEO talked about the abovementioned plans for the coast-to-coast FSD demo.
That said, CEO Musk’s response to a Tweet from a Tesla investor stunned the internet.
Twitter user @westcoastbill asked, “when you doin LA-NY?” as it replied to Whole Mars Catalog’s post about Tesla’s FSD.
As you can see in the Tweet attached below, CEO Musk replied “Soon” to the inquiry, hinting at the nearing development of the long-planned coast-to-coast demo of the company’s FSD.
See Also:
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Interestingly, CEO Musk’s outlook was considerably less committal this time. Nonetheless, it suggested Tesla was still developing a coast-to-coast demo of its driverless technology, aiding the company’s ambitions to offer a fully driverless solution.
