Autonomous Teslas take to the road

‘It tends to work better in places where there are clear markings,’ Musk added. ‘If you’re in slow-moving traffic, it works really well – almost to the point where you can take your hands off the wheel. I won’t say to do that, but some people may.’

Crucially, Musk stressed that if you’re in control of a Model S with Autopilot engaged and it causes an accident, you’re the one who’ll be held liable. He also said, however, that highway authorities will only start to allow full autonomous cars when – not if – the statistics show they’re safer.

A $2500 cost option which Tesla expects to bring to Europe in the days following its US roll-out, Autpilot works by interpreting data from the car’s onboard sensors, radar and camera systems as well as from high-definition GPS maps.

The necessary hardware has been fitted as standard on the Model S since last September, making the system available on some 60,000 vehicles globally. Earlier cars miss out, however, as the cost of retro-fitting would be too high.

The system comes with instructions warning owners not to stop paying attention to their surroundings when the car is driving autonomously. ‘We still think of this as a public beta,’ said Musk. ‘So we want people to be quite careful with it at first. But it learns over time.’

‘It should not hit pedestrians, hopefully.’