Elon Musk Wildly Claims Tesla EVs Will Be Able Drive Autonomously Coast-to-Coast This Year

Tesla has been betting big on autonomous driving and recently held an Autonomy Day where it rolled out its new, next-generation full self-driving computer claiming that it was the most powerful in the world. For a long time now Elon Musk has been proclaiming that Tesla cars with Autopilot would be able to travel across the country autonomously.

Musk has now bragged that later this year Tesla cars with the Full Self-Driving software will be able to drive autonomously across the country from LA to New York. This is the first time that Musk

We could have gamed an LA/NY Autopilot journey last year, but when we do it this year, everyone with Tesla Full Self-Driving will be able to do it too

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2019

Since Musk said special software would be cheating, the planned trip using "Alpha" software that owners wouldn't have access to was ditched. The change means that Musk is expecting Tesla to have the software out this year. It's worth noting that it would not be the first time that Musk has made promises that Tesla has been unable to deliver.

Musk's statement sounds like an incredibly tall order, as the software in Tesla vehicles now has a long way to go before it is able to operate autonomously for a cross-country LA to NYC road trip. Notably, Autopilot is unable to stop and start at red lights and stop signs. The software did recently acquire the ability to change lanes with no driver input. Not surprisingly, Musk still hasn't cleared up all the mysteries (and inconsistencies) surrounding the autonomous cross country trip.

Musk had stated in the past that by 2018 drivers would be able to summon their vehicels to pick them up from across the country and have the car do everything, including charge itself. That feat of course never happened.