Tesla self-driven cars impress Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma: 'Driving will soon be a job for machines'

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma reshared a video of Tesla EV on X. (Image credit: X, AFP)

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma appears to be impressed with Tesla's self-driving technology after the Elon Musk-owned EV company announced that they were one step closer to achieving large-scale unsupervised full self-driving. The company also shared a video on X of Tesla EVs autonomously driving from the factory to their designated loading dock lanes without any human interference.

Sharma reshared the video and wrote: "One mile at a time. Driving will soon be a job for machines." He further predicted that the technology would be used for "institutional roads first, like airport busses or point-to-point shuttles in exhibition centers".

One mile at a time. Driving will soon be a job for machines.I predict this for institutional roads first, like airport busses or point-to-point shuttles in exhibition centers. https://t.co/pTEDxDG3xh Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) January 29, 2025

Ashok Elluswamy, the Indian-origin VP of autopilot at Tesla, had a different take. He believes the cars would soon be ready to run on public roads.

"Just a matter of time before it's rolling on public roads," he said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Tesla made headlines on Tuesday after it challenged EU import tariffs on China-made electric vehicles at the bloc's top court, the European Commission said Monday. It was joined by German auto giant BMW.

The carmakers -- which both manufacture EVs in China -- followed challenges filed with the Court of Justice of the European Union by Chinese automakers BYD, Geely and SAIC against the extra tariffs of up to 35 percent.

"We take note of these cases and we look forward to defending ourselves in court," commission spokesman Olof Gill told AFP.

The move came as Europe's car industry has been plunged into crisis by high manufacturing costs, a stuttering switch to electric vehicles (EV) and increased competition in key market China.