The Autonomous Race Begins: Tesla, Waymo and Chinese Automakers Shape the New Era

This year, Tesla plans to produce between 5,000 and 12,000 Optimus robots, aiming to increase production to 50,000 units next year. The company also intends to launch its autonomous taxi service in the coming year. If that happens, Tesla will position itself as one of the leading players in “robot technology.”

Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving) system is currently considered the most advanced application of driver-supervised autonomous driving on the market. Meanwhile, NVIDIA is moving forward with a large consortium focused on autonomous systems, and Waymo-Google is expected to continue pushing forward aggressively.

In China, automakers such as Xpeng, Li Auto, Nio, BYD, Xiaomi, and Baidu are already operating at L2++ levels of autonomy. Tesla is generally classified at Level 2, while Waymo is recognized as having reached Level 4. (The maximum level of autonomy is Level 5.)

It has now become clear that the next big competition in the automotive industry will revolve around autonomous driving. Automakers are investing heavily to gain an edge in this emerging segment.

Autonomous driving is already proving effective on intercity roads and in low-traffic areas. However, when it comes to urban driving—especially in cities with highly complex traffic like Istanbul—it may still take many years before vehicles can drive like humans.

What about you?Would you rather stay in control behind the wheel, or trust the technology to drive for you?