Elon Musk: Tesla will have an autonomous vehicle within two years

However, cars capable of navigating any type of road or traffic conditions autonomously are just two years away, according to the electric vehicle company’s CEO Elon Musk, reports Motor Authority. Even more, the timing Musk is now referring to for autonomous driving tech falls in line with the company’s planned launch of its lower-cost electric auto, Model 3.

The driverless technology may indeed be fitted and ready to use in Tesla’s cars within two years, but it will for some time at least be running invisibly in the background for data gathering and analysis purposes only. Fifteen months ago, Musk said it could take 5 or 6 years to prepare a fully autonomous vehicle. Musk said in his interview with Fortune he predicts it will take an additional year for regulators to determine that it’s safe and to go through an approval process and, “In some jurisdictions, it may take five years or more, he says”, writes Fortune’s Kirsten Korosec. It hopes to begin selling fully autonomous vehicles in two to five years, perhaps in partnership with Ford.

Musk made the comments during a recent interview with Fortune. The information could provide validation that autonomous cars are safer than those fully under the control of a human driver.

Tesla has already released the first generation of its autopilot that offers drivers computer-assisted parallel parking, steering and lane changes.

The most interesting thing that could happen if Tesla does deploy fully autonomous cars in two years is the pressure it will put on the Department of Transportation and the insurance industry to finally decide how they want to deal with the thorny issues that arise with autonomous cars, and how they’ll interact with meat-driven cars and the rest of the world. If Tesla can save lives, Musk’s aspirations for autonomous driving could prove realistic.