DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Elon Musk said that he expects hundreds of thousands of self-driving Teslas will be on the road requiring no human intervention by the end of next year and that he is committed to staying as CEO of the company for at least another five years.
The billionaire also said in a pair of interviews on Tuesday that he has no regrets about leading the job-slashing Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration. He downplayed any damage to the Tesla brand from that role, saying demand for Teslas has experienced a “major rebound." That's potentially a big development given that the latest public sales figures from Europe and U.S. show steep declines in sales for several months running.
“We'll probably have hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, Teslas doing self-driving in the U.S.,” Musk said in an CNBC interview Tuesday, adding that passengers won't need to pay attention to the road. “Like you're asleep and you wake up at your destination.”
His comment about sticking around as CEO was made earlier in the day at the Qatar Economic Forum hosted by Bloomberg.
Musk has been promising fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles “next year” for a decade but the pressure is on now as Tesla begins a test run of its self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas, next month.
“This is a watershed time for Tesla, and Musk is doubling down on these numbers,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. “These are pretty bullish forecasts.”
Tesla's stock closed Tuesday up nearly 1% to $345. After a steep fall this year, the stock is up more than 50% in little over a month as investors have cheered Musk's decision to scale back his time in Washington and spend more time running the company.
Musk also gave new details about the Austin service, saying Tesla taxis will be remotely monitored at first and “geofenced” to certain areas of the city deemed the safest to navigate. He told CNBC that he expected to initially run 10 or so taxis, increase that number rapidly and start offering the service in Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco and other cities.
Federal safety regulators recently asked Tesla to explain how its driverless taxis will operate safely in Austin when there is fog, sun glare, rain and other low-visibility conditions that have been tied to accidents involving the company’s driver-assistance software. However, federal regulators have limited powers over new Tesla taxis that operate without a steering wheel or brake pedals because there are no national regulations on self-driving technology.
Musk also dismissed autonomous vehicle rivals such as Waymo, a driverless taxis service that has jumped ahead of Tesla with already 250,000 paid trips each week in several cities.
“I think it'll better,” he said of Tesla's taxis. Then added, "I don’t really think about competitors. I just think about making the product as perfect as possible."
The question about his expected tenure in Tesla's top job came in a video appearance at the Qatar Economic Forum after Musk traveled to Doha as part of Trump's Mideast trip last week. Musk, who also runs SpaceX, Starlink and other companies, offered terse responses and became combative over questions regarding his businesses and how his involvement in politics had affected his businesses.
Moderator Mishal Husain asked: “Do you see yourself and are you committed to still being the chief executive of Tesla in five years’ time?”
Musk responded: “Yes.”
Husain pushed further: “No doubt about that at all?”
Musk added, chuckling: “I can't be still here if I'm dead."
Tesla has faced intense pressure as Musk worked with Trump as part of DOGE, particularly amid its campaign of cuts across the U.S. federal government.
Asked if what he faced made him think twice about his involvement in politics, Musk grew quiet and looked off camera for a moment before responding.
“I did what needed to be done,” he said. “I'm not someone who has ever committed violence and yet massive violence was committed against my companies, massive violence was threatened against me.”
He added: “Don't worry: We're coming for you.”
Asked about his political donations, which include at least $250 million to support Trump's election, Musk said that he would “to do a lot less in the future."
“I think I’ve done enough," he said.
Musk has seen a Tesla pay package he was due, once valued at $56 billion, stopped by a Delaware judge. Musk on Tuesday referred to Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick as an “activist who is cosplaying a judge in a Halloween costume."
Yet he acknowledged his Tesla pay was a part of his consideration about staying with the automaker, though he also wanted “sufficient voting control” so he “cannot be ousted by activist investors.”
“It's not a money thing, it's a reasonable control thing over the future of the company, especially if we're building millions, potentially billions of humanoid robots,” he added.
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Condon reported from New York.
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