Tesla, which is a U.S. manufacturer of electric vehicles, announced that it will launch unmanned self-driving taxis by 2020 in partnership with Samsung Electronics.
According to a Bloomberg News report on April 22, Tesla CEO Ellen Musk spoke about the plan at a "Tesla Autonomous Investor Day" event at Palo Alto's headquarters in California.
Tesla explained that Tesla will design semiconductor chips that are used for autonomous driving and Samsung Electronics will do consignment production of semiconductors.
"It seemed impossible for Tesla to design the world's best chip, which has never been designed," Musk said. "However, this has actually happened and the chip, which is superior to other chips, will be fitted to Tesla vehicles produced from now on."
He believes that by the second quarter of next year, "Lobo Taxi" operations, which require little human driving, will be possible.
Tesla unveiled photos of the interior of the steering- wheelless vehicle at the briefing, which is similar to the model 3 currently on sale or model Y, which is scheduled to be sold next year.
In addition, the real image of the FSD chip, which has dramatically improved self-driving technology, was revealed together.
It is heard that Tesla has already been using chips that Samsung Electronics developed and produced in Model S and Model X since a month ago.
The FSD chip, which is in charge of design and design by Tesla, will be produced at Samsung Electronics' semiconductor plant in Austin, Texas.
Meanwhile, investors do not seem to fully trust Tesla's announcement. Shares of Tesla closed at 262.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 3.8 percent from the previous day.
Market experts say that Tesla's self-driving cars have failed to win investor confidence as they have already made several accidents. Tesla will later begin a demonstration of the full self-driving system for investors.
However, people are paying attention to how Tesla will solve the problem, as many tasks remain, including approval from relevant authorities, for the unmanned taxi plan to be implemented.
