Tesla's new microchip will be 'more intelligent' than humans by 2033 - its processing power is currently at 36% of a person's brain.
The D1 microchip can handle 362 trillion operations per second, whereas a person's brain is capable of one quadrillion operations per second (that's the number one, followed by 15 zeros), according to a study conducted by car and van leasing company Vanarama.
The firm made its prediction by analyzing past and current Tesla microchips to find that their capability is increasing at an eye-popping rate of 486% per year.
Elon Musk's company is set to release the new D1 chip, part of its Dojo supercomputer platform, this year - and it will be a key part of the firm's Autopilot self-driving system as it continues to develop, according to Vanarama.
In the time it's taken you to read the graphic above, the D1 chip will have completed 7.6 quadrillion operations.
A human brain, which triples in size during a baby's first year and reaches full maturity by the age of 25, contains about 100 billion neurons.
Researchers in have long said that there will come a time when AI exceeds the intellectual capacity of humans - although there is a wide range of opinions about when that will take place.
'It wouldn’t be crazy to believe that tech will become significantly smarter than humans in our lifetime,' Vanaram says. 'Microchips are currently capable of working the way brain synapses do, with researchers developing chips that are inspired by the way the brain operates.'
The previous chip, known as Hardware 3, performed 144 trillion operations per second in 2019. Prior to that, the Hardware 2 could handle 72 trillion operations. The D1 microchip is a full 30 times more powerful than the Nvidia device being used just six years ago.
Looking at that growth rate, Vanarama explains that Tesla would take only 17 years to reach the level of a mature human brain from the start of its development.
This study arrives as Musk continues to tout the benefits on electric-powered cars - saying Monday on Twitter: 'Won’t be long before we view gasoline cars the same way we view steam engines today. The residual value of gasoline cars bought today will be much lower than people think.'
'These chips have been instrumental in Tesla’s existing automated driving functions, but there is so much more potential over the next decade,' Vanarama says.
'Does this mean that it will be 11 years until we see self-driving cars on the roads, or will it happen much sooner? Only time and innovation will tell.'
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