Elon Musk: Human-Driven Cars Might Someday Be Banned
The visionary entrepreneur later backpedaled on his bold claim about the future of transportation.
By Catherine Clifford •
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Elon Musk, a veritable Superman of Silicon Valley, says that there may come a time when cars driven by human beings are banned in favor of self-driven cars.
"In the distant future, [legislators] may outlaw driven cars because they're too dangerous," he said in an interview earlier this week at the 2015 GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, Calif.
Related: Elon Musk Wants to Colonize Mars in Order to Fend Off Human Extinction
Rather uncharacteristically, the visionary founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX later softened the blow of his controversial statement by clarifying that he's not trying to take people out of the driver's seat.
To be clear, Tesla is strongly in favor of people being allowed to drive their cars and always will be. Hopefully, that is obvious.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 17, 2015To be clear, Tesla is strongly in favor of people being allowed to drive their cars and always will be. Hopefully, that is obvious.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 17, 2015While critical of artificial intelligence, Musk believes autonomous vehicles are the way of the future -- and he's helping to pave the way. In October, he said Tesla's latest electric Model S vehicle is equipped with "autopilot" hardware that will allow it to park itself in a garage, switch on the A/C before a trip and sense obstacles on the road.
Related: Elon Musk: Artificial Intelligence Is Humanity's 'Biggest Existential Threat'
