Just a few days after being named Person of the Year for 2021 by Time magazine, Musk won another Person of the Year award, this time from the Financial Times. In an interview with the publication, Musk shared some of his thoughts on the company's mission, the progress of Tesla's competitors, and the safety of the company's driver assistance systems.
The Financial Times said it awarded Musk the Person of the Year award only because musk still has a great achievement behind the ongoing controversy. After all, he did lead a small, all-electric vehicle manufacturer into a force that triggered a historic shift in the world's automotive industry to electric vehicles. These achievements have far-reaching implications for governments, investors, and the planet's climate as a whole.
Musk has a lot of critics, and if we, go through some of the comments online, we can attest to that. Still, Musk has gained a significant amount of public recognition.
Musk said: "I just want people to go to Mars, free information through Starlink, accelerate sustainable technology through Tesla, and get people out of the drudgery of driving." The road to hell may certainly have been paved with good intentions to some extent – but the road to hell is mostly paved with malice."
With Tesla's huge success, new automakers such as Rivian and Lucid have unveiled impressive electric cars that could rival Musk's now iconic electric cars. In fact, however, the Financial Times notes that Musk seems to be largely unconcerned about competition. Still, Musk did warn of the electrification momentum of Chinese automakers, which he believes would disrupt the market, as Japanese automakers like Toyota have done in the past.
Musk said: "I think people are somewhat ignorant of the progress that China has made, it's incredible. [Like] the wave of Japanese imports that happened in the 1980s and '90s. I think we'll see something similar in Chinese auto companies. In China, the number of hard-working, intelligent people is staggering –both amazing and a little scary. They will do things well."
As for concerns about Tesla's advanced driver assistance system, Musk noted that he is the one who values safety the most. While the CEO noted that he may have underestimated the challenges involved in developing autonomous driving solutions for consumer cars, Musk stressed that he is not lenient when it comes to the safety of the company's current programs, such as the FSD Beta.
Musk said: "When you order a Tesla, read the above. When you open it, read its description, which is written very, very clearly. I don't think there's a CEO on the planet who cares more about security than I do."