“In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk writes in his blog at tesla.com. “Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”
Musk speaks to autonomy in the latter half of the blog. He states that the beta moniker attached to the Tesla Autopilot should not be interpreted in the normal sense.
“This is not beta software in any normal sense of the word. Every release goes through extensive internal validation before it reaches any customers,” Musk writes. “It is called beta in order to decrease complacency and indicate that it will continue to improve (Autopilot is always off by default).
“Once we get to the point where Autopilot is approximately 10 times safer than the US vehicle average, the beta label will be removed.”
