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Tesla Is Preparing a Uber Rival, Cars Could Operate Themselves

Tesla announced that all of the cars it builds starting this week come with hardware that will enable them to drive themselves, without any human interaction.
Self-driving Tesla Model X 22 photos
Photo: Screenshot from video
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Specialists call the described grade of autonomy as Level 5, which means that a vehicle that will be certified for that spectrum will be capable of going from one place to another without any human assistance. So far, no automobiles have received that certification from any authority.

Evidently, some Tesla customers that happen to be Uber or Lyft drivers have seen this as a golden opportunity - you could have a car that operates without any fuel, and that would drive itself from one destination to another, while you make money by “ride sharing.” It sounds like something that is too good to be true, because there is no such thing as “free money.”

In the case of self-driving Tesla cars, they will happen, and you will be able to sit as a passenger behind the wheel while you take your friends from one place to another. If a client wanted to be an Uber driver, or to operate the same kind of service for Lyft or another company in the field, tough luck.

Tesla has already specified that its self-driving system will not be available for vehicles that will be operated to obtain revenue. Interestingly, Tesla will not ban this practice just because it would not like its customers to drive for Uber. Instead, the automaker has specified that only the “Tesla Network” will allow clients to gain revenue from driving people in an autonomous car.

The service will be announced next year, Tesla’s website reads. In other words, Tesla will eventually battle it out with Uber, and it will happen in the field of autonomous cars that offer ride-sharing.

If the concept seems strange, just think of it as renting your car to other people, but without the risks that arise when you lend your car to a stranger to drive.

The system sounds like it is a few years away from its public release, but we expect it to come to selected markets once Tesla gets the rubber stamp for its top level of autonomous driving tech.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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