Elon Musk, the world's richest entrepreneur, did not visit Israel in the end for the International Smart Mobility Summit 2026, which was held today in Tel Aviv, but he did address the event in a live video. Musk said, "I'm a big fan of the entrepreneurship that comes from Israel. Israel is achieving amazing results relative to the size of its population and is definitely number 1 in the world. I take my hat off to Israel for its innovation."
He added that he looks forward to visiting Israel again and noted that Tesla's autonomous driving technology is expected to arrive in Israel soon. On the future of autonomous transportation, Musk said, "The path to safer driving than human driving is absolutely clear. In ten years, I estimate that about 90% of all vehicles will be driven by AI systems rather than by a human driver. The car will drive you not the other way around. Tesla's software is based on AI and cameras, just like a human drives and I expect this approach to be safer than any human driver."
More robots than humans
On the future of robotics and the global economy, he added, "My prediction for the future is that there will be more intelligent robots in the world than humans. There will be humanoid robots everywhere. Who wouldn't want a personal robotic assistant? When robots and AI perform tasks better than we can do, it will increase the global economy a hundredfold," he said.
Musk presented his vision for the future of humanity: "What is the best future we can imagine? Everyone has access to an exceptional medical system, every disease can be cured, and no hungry people in the world, and because of that, people are free to do what they want. I dream of a world without conflict and global war. A world where technology serves all of humanity, not just the few."
Further confirmation of plans to soon operate Tesla's autonomous driving system, FSD, in Israel was given at the conference by Minister of Transport Miri Regev. She said, "We are promoting the field of autonomous driving and the advanced FSD system. These technologies have enormous significance for the world of transport — reducing human errors, reducing burdens that cost the State of Israel $40 billion a year."
The 9th International Conference on Smart Transportation — the International Smart Mobility Summit 2026, was led by the Innovation and Smart Transportation Division at the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety, in cooperation with Keren Hayesod.