‘This doesn’t seem to be the solution’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announcement The claim that the AI5 chip in the X is “almost complete” has been met with weary skepticism after years of delays and unfulfilled promises.

What’s going on?

Musk on January 17 in question AI5 was nearing completion, suggesting that a more powerful chip, AI6, could be ready in just nine months.

“We are targeting a 9-month design cycle,” Musk wrote. “Join us to work on what I predict will be by far the world’s highest volume AI chips!”

Musk appeared for the first time At its shareholders meeting in June 2024, AI5 claimed that the next-generation autonomous chip would be in all Tesla electric vehicles as well as humanoid robot Optimus in about 18 months. He said it would be 10 times more capable than Hardware 4.

While Tesla isn’t far outside that 18-month window, Electrek’s Fred Lambert warned consumers are greeting Musk’s announcement with “great skepticism.”

“Today’s news that the ‘design is nearly complete’ contradicts his claim that the design is ‘finished’ in July 2025,” Lambert said. Musk It was also claimed Tesla had “just completed the design” of the AI5 at its annual shareholders meeting in 2024.

Why is this important?

The advent of self-driving EVs was undoubtedly a turning point for tech enthusiasts and forward-thinking dreamers, but autonomous EVs are also important for ordinary consumers. They could revolutionize transportation, making it cleaner, safer and more affordable.

Waymo, a rival to Alphabet’s Tesla in autonomous technology, has already completed hundreds of millions of driver-only miles in four major U.S. cities, at least in Musk’s estimation. According to him security dataWaymo’s self-driving electric vehicles caused 90% fewer crashes with serious injuries or worse than the average human driver.

However, Tesla had difficulty instilling confidence as sales were delayed in 2025. Of course, Musk’s move into politics has diminished the brand’s reputation in the eyes of many. A series of high-profile robotaxi accidents have also raised concerns about the viability of Tesla’s self-driving technology, possibly damaging confidence in autonomous EV technology as a whole.

“If Tesla can’t run its software unsupervised on the millions of HW3 and HW4 cars on the road today, does it really matter that AI5 is ‘almost finished’?” Lambert wrote. “… In short, this doesn’t seem to be the solution to Tesla’s problem of solving unsupervised autonomous driving.”

What is being done about this?

A competitive EV market is another factor dampening interest in Tesla, but that’s good news if you’re interested. making your next car an EV. If you want to own a vehicle with lower lifetime operating costs and zero tailpipe emissions, you have tons of options.

Lambert, meanwhile, believes Musk is unlikely to deliver on his promises regarding the development of AI5, AI6, and more, at least on the timeline he has set.

“Even consumer electronics giants like Apple operate on annual cycles that are years in the making,” he wrote. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s exciting to see Tesla pushing the boundaries on custom silicon. But… AI5 feels like classic Musk over-optimism.”

Others had a more pessimistic take on Tesla.

One commenter said, “They have no idea how to improve things for generations. They just know how to operate like a start-up… then try to keep running faster than the results.” in question.

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