Tesla Self-Driving Car: Auto-Pilot Vehicle Expected by 2016

Sep 18, 2013 11:11 AM EDT | Matt Mercuro

Electric vehicle company Tesla Motors has joined the race to produce a car capable of driving itself and has set a release date for 2016.

Company CEO Elon Musk announced the news this week as Tesla will join Google, General Motors, and other automotive companies to see who can release a vehicle capable of driving on its own first.

Musk said Tesla's self-driving vehicle would be developed by Tesla's technology, and would not be assisted by another company, according to Reuters,

A fully autonomous vehicle would take a little longer to produce, according to Musk.

One of the biggest obstacles for automakers is safety and legal issues that currently stand in the way of getting driverless cars on the road.

Most automakers have predicted self-driving technology will take another 10-15 years to be completed. Nissan, GM and Daimler AG have both said they'll be happy to have an autonomous vehicle out before the end of the decade.

Google has been working on a self-driving model for a while now fitting a number of vehicles with radar-like equipment that allows them to navigate roads where the car is street legal like California and Nevada, according to Reuters.

Last year California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law last year allowing Google to test self-driving vehicles on the road.

Tesla recently posted a number of job openings on its online job board including one opening for an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Controls Engineer, who would be responsible for helping the company "pioneer" fully-automated driving, according to the post.

If Musk is successful, he should beat other companies by a longshot.

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