Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk warned on Wednesday that its biggest rival, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway-backed Chinese EV maker BYD Co Ltd (OTC:BYDDY), needs to change its approach to vehicle autonomy fast to avoid going obsolete.
What Happened: “BYD needs to change course fast or they're in trouble,” Musk wrote on X in response. In a subsequent post, Musk clarified that he meant “trouble” to mean going obsolete.
The CEO was responding to a comment from a BYD spokesperson Li Yunfei from April 2023 that fully autonomous driving is “basically impossible.” Yunfei then said that businesses that invest a lot of money into self-driving technology will prove it leads nowhere after many years.
Tesla is also looking to launch a dedicated robotaxi product on Oct. 10.
Musk remains optimistic that Tesla will eventually achieve true autonomy, comparing self-driving cars to elevators that transport passengers to their destinations.
Musk reiterated the same sentiment during the company’s second-quarter earnings call last month.
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Image made via photos on Shutterstock and BYD
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