Japan's Turing eyes 2025 self-driving trial in challenge to Tesla

TOKYO -- A Japanese startup aiming to "overtake Tesla" says it plans to test fully autonomous driving by 2025, much earlier than it had initially forecast, as advances in generative artificial intelligence give it a powerful tailwind.

The generative AI frenzy, which kicked off with the release of the ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, has "rocked the industry" and accelerated efforts to develop AI-based self-driving technology, Shunsuke Aoki, chief technology officer at Turing, told Nikkei Asia. These technologies are evolving much faster than expected, and "the battle for who will win in the full self-driving technology will be settled for the most part in the next three to five years," he said.