Musk expects Tesla self-driving cars ‘later this year’

Elon Musk, CEO of Electric car giant Tesla, said on Thursday that he expects the release of autonomous vehicles “later this year”.

“In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision,” Musk said on video during the opening ceremony of an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai.

However, he said that this is “only speculation” but he also believes the company is capable of achieving full self-driving later this year.

He also said that he has previously been wrong in previous predictions regarding this timeline, but he feels that the company is “closer to it than we ever have been.”

Tesla announced in April that it would build a second massive factory in Shanghai, to maintain close links with China.

Electric vehicles account for a quarter of car sales in China, which is the world’s largest car market.