Recent controversy notwithstanding, there's no denying the potential of electric vehicles to change the way we hit the road. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently sat down for an interview with Bloomberg, conveying the automaker's interest in bringing autopilot capabilities to its vehicles. Musk and company have apparently already spoken to Google about its still-in-testing tech, but there's some chance Tesla may strike out on its own with an optical-based system.

"I like the word autopilot more than I like the word self-driving," said Musk. "Self-driving sounds like it’s going to do something you don’t want it to do. Autopilot is a good thing to have in planes, and we should have it in cars."

While Musk has talked to Google about its system -- founders Larry page and Sergey Brin were both early investors in Tesla -- the CEO says the sensor-based system currently utilized by Google is too cost prohibitive. An important factor for an automaker whose lowest cost vehicle starts at $69,000. According to Bloomberg, Musk wants to offer a $30,000 Tesla vehicle "within a few years."

Still, all of the futuristic talk of self-driving cars remains soundly based in the future. Google has already logged an impressive amount of miles in its Toyota Prius fleet equipped with $70,000 radar systems, but the technology will still have to overcome the legal ramifications of cars zipping through the streets with drivers blissfully unaware.

And that, could take a very long time.

-Source