Director of autonomous vehicle integration at General Motors, Scott Miller, has slammed claims by Elon Musk that the new Tesla Model 3 has level 5 autonomous driving capabilities as “full of crap”.
Miller made the comments during a presentation on GM’s Super Cruise technology which provides level 2 autonomous driving technology in current Cadillac vehicles.
“I think he’s full of crap,” Miller said in response to rival Tesla’s claims, owned by Musk, that “all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, already have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability”.
“The things you would need to have level 5 autonomous, with cameras and radar, I don’t know how you (would) do that. To say you could be a full level 5 with just cameras and radar I don’t think is possible,” Miller said.
Miller did acknowledge that he and his rival might be on the same level and capability in terms of being able to drive from New York to Los Angeles.
“There’s lots of room in that statement in being able to do a level 2 from coast to coast… we just did, we’re doing it right now. (But) To be at what SAE level 5 autonomous is, I don’t think he is,” Miller said.
He also called manufacturers such as Audi and Mercedes irresponsible for claiming that they have autonomous driving capabilities built into production cars beyond what they really are.
“We could be saying we’re a level 5 right now, but we’re not saying that and I think it’s irresponsible to say that. Do you really want to trust one sensor measuring the speed of an oncoming car at an intersection before you pull out?”
He is, however, optimistic in GM’s ability to be able to roll out highly autonomous level 4 cars within a year.
“I think we said we would have a level four in a ride share market in a matter of quarters not years,” Miller said.