Elon Musk downplays Nvidia AV threat to Tesla’s FSD technology

Elon Musk has played down concerns that new autonomous vehicle models from Nvidia could challenge Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system.

Responding to recent announcements from Nvidia, the Tesla CEO said it could take another five to six years before rival autonomous driving models create serious competitive pressure for Tesla’s FSD technology. 

His comments came after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced Alpamayo, a new family of open AI models aimed at supporting autonomous vehicle development, during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Musk argued that while companies may achieve strong baseline performance relatively quickly, solving complex edge cases remains the biggest hurdle. 

He said reaching a level where self-driving systems are safer than human drivers will take far longer than many expect.

Musk also pointed out that most traditional automakers are still years away from deploying custom camera systems and powerful onboard AI computers at scale. 

Notably, Huang has previously described Tesla’s FSD software stack as among the most advanced in the industry, while emphasising that Nvidia’s role is to provide full autonomous vehicle platforms to automakers rather than manufacture cars itself.

This is not the first time Musk has publicly commented on the AI chip maker. Earlier, he suggested that Nvidia’s newly unveiled Vera Rubin chips could take up to nine months before they are fully operational at scale.