The technology's failures still come with criticism, even though the auto industry may be paving the way for electric vehicles.
Time Magazine's editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal sat down with Musk to talk about his work, including increased scrutiny over accidents caused by the company's self-driving technology.
Even if you save 10% of the lives, you're going to be sued, Musk told Time, noting he's seen month-to-month improvement in the company.
He said, "You will definitely be blamed for lives that you don't save, but you won't get rewarded for it."
Musk's comments come as the company faces legal problems over its self driving technology. Some drivers of the electric car company are suing over fatal crashes, while others are seeking legal action against the company for misrepresenting and using deceptive marketing.
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, Musk said he believes he hasn't misled or risked the safety of the owners of the car company.
"I don't think there's a CEO on this planet that cares more about safety than me," Musk told the Financial Times.
According to Musk, he pushed to develop autopilot, which he told Time can make driving more efficient and save millions of lives per year. When activated, the self-driving technology ofTesla keeps the car centered in its lane and away from other cars.
The company says that it doesn't make the car drive itself, but still requires the driver's attention to avoid accidents.
In the second quarter of 2021, the company recorded one crash for every 4.41 million miles driven using autopilot, compared to one crash for every 1.2 million miles driven without autopilot.
In August, the NHTSA began investigating 765,000Tesla vehicles produced since the beginning of the year after Full Self-Driving software caused 11 accidents, killing one and injuring 17 others.
In September, the NHTSA asked for more information about the non-disclosure agreements with vehicle owners, and asked the company to recall vehicles if a software update is required to fix a safety defect. After the investigation started, the company updated the software to address the issues.
The New York Times reported that Musk berated the manager of the company who proposed implementing a system to monitor for Autopilot malfunction. The system would've included a computer chip and additional hardware as safeguards, but Musk said it would slow the development of the autopilot.
The company was not available to respond to the request.
