Elon Musk Is Building a Self-Driving Tesla

“As an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Controls Engineer, you will be responsible for developing vehicle-level decision-making and lateral and longitudinal control strategies for Tesla’s effort to pioneer fully automated driving.”

That’s Tesla Motors’ pitch for an engineer to lead its new self-driving-car effort — one that founder Elon Musk says may come to fruition in just a few years. In an interview with the Financial Times, Musk said he expects Tesla to roll out an autonomous vehicle by 2016.

Engineers interested in working on autonomous driving, pls email autopilot@teslamotors.com. Team will report directly to me. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 18, 2013

“We should be able to do 90 percent of miles driven within three years,” Musk told the London newspaper.

That’s a far more ambitious timeline than ones put forth by other automakers. Nissan, for example, recently pledged to bring a self-driving car to market by 2020. But Musk feels it’s possible if Tesla focuses on building a vehicle that handles most of the driving — not all of it.

“My opinion is it’s a bridge too far to go to fully autonomous cars,” he said. “It’s incredibly hard to get the last few percent.”