Tesla patent hints at Hardware 3's neural network accelerator for faster processing

During the recently-held fourth-quarter earnings call, Elon Musk all but stated that Tesla holds a notable lead in the self-driving field. While responding to Loup Ventures analyst Gene Munster, who inquired about Morgan Stanley's estimated $175 billion valuation for Waymo and its self-driving tech, Musk noted that Tesla actually has an advantage over other companies involved in the development of autonomous technologies, particularly when it comes to real-world miles. "If you add everyone else up combined, they're probably 5% -- I'm being generous -- of the miles that Tesla has. And this difference is increasing. A year from now, we'll probably go -- certainly from 18 months from now, we'll probably have 1 million vehicles on the road with -- that are -- and every time the customers drive the car, they're training the systems to be better. I'm just not sure how anyone competes with that," Musk said.