Elon Musk says a Tesla car will drive from LA to New York City autonomously by early 2018.Tesla The deadline is approaching for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to deliver on one of his loftiest predictions for the company. In October 2016, he said a Tesla car would drive itself from LA to New York City without any assistance from a human driver by the end of 2017. Musk made a slight revision to that statement in August, claiming the autonomous road trip would happen early in 2018 if he doesn't meet his original deadline. But the self-driving capabilities in Tesla's cars are still ahead of the competition. The Autopilot system included in its cars can help drivers navigate highways and parking lots, and the company says every vehicle produced in its factory has the hardware for complete, autonomous driving that could be activated when the necessary software and government regulations come into place.