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Yes, the phrase used in the headline is a direct quote. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is teasing new details about the company's future, set to be announced later this week. The news may be in reaction to slipping stock prices and troubles with regulators following a recent crash:
While offering no other details, the master plan is likely a follow-up to a 2006 blog post titled "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)," in which Musk laid out his vision for Tesla, including eventual plans for the Tesla Roadster, the Model S sedan and the upcoming (and more affordable) Model 3 sedan.
It may not be a bad idea for Musk to roll out some optimistic news. In recent weeks, the electric car company has become the subject of a federal safety investigation following at least two crashes — one fatal — possibly related to its highly touted autopilot feature; Tesla has announced a drop in Model S shipments; and Musk himself has come under fire after proposing that Tesla purchase SolarCity, which he is also the chairman of, much to the chagrin of shareholders.
[...] Tesla shares are down almost 10% year-to-date, and down more than 16% in the past 12 months.
You may also be interested in this NYT editorial about "Lessons From the Tesla Crash".
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Monday July 11 2016, @09:29PM
No, robot cars are coming much sooner than mid-century. Much, much sooner.
A robot car doesn't need to be Platonically perfect.
It doesn't need to be a better driver than Mario Andretti.
It doesn't even need to be able to always get a perfect score on every DMV test.
It just needs to get in about 10% fewer crashes as the median human driver on the road today -- a bar that we've probably already cleared.
For individual owners, the rate break you'd get from the insurance company will probably convince enough people to sustain sales -- but that's peanuts compared to commercial driving. A robot truck, for example, isn't limited to eight hours on the road per day; nor does it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in salaries and health insurance and liability insurance and all the rest. Similar calculations apply for all other professional drivers.
Amazon alone has an overwhelming interest in roboticising all its jobs, including indirect jobs such as those that move goods to and between warehouses that they likely subcontract to the likes of UPS today. Robot trucks would likely cost Amazon a tenth of what they currently pay, once you factor in increased productivity and reduced overhead and not paying UPS shareholder profits and the rest...
...and if you think any sort of conspiracy could keep them from cutting those costs, let me invite you to bid on my auction for the Brooklyn Bridge.
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday July 11 2016, @11:07PM
Catch-22. There need to be enough robot cars on the road to actually collect the data about safety. I'd bet that insurance companies actually raise rates at first for robot cars just because they'll be unproven outside of Google's data.
- A robot car does need to be Platonically perfect
- A robot car does need to be a better driven than Mario Andretti
- A robot car must get a perfect score on every DMV test
The press shows over and over again every time there's a collision involving either a Tesla or a Google car that it's going to frame Tesla/Google as inherently unsafe. Never underestimate the ability of mass brainwashing to overcome what should be an easy, logical conclusion.
Sure, eventually the data will speak for itself, but that's going to take quite a while.
(Score: 2) by quintessence on Tuesday July 12 2016, @04:34AM
When ABS was introduced, it took a few decades for it to gain traction, and as even as early as the 1980s when it was just starting to become widespread, there were doubts from even innovative manufacturers like BMW as to its effectiveness (which is the reason they gave for not employing it sooner).
Even today, ABS increases braking distances on slick surfaces. It is still mandatory on all vehicles. It has still reduced the total number of crashes by a fair amount.
You lack history in how features are adopted in the automotive world. An overall gain is more important from a regulatory standpoint. The brainwashed masses will simply not be early adopters, but short of an outright ban, the numbers will trickle forwards with every tech advancement, which is far more accelerated now than in the 1980s.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VanessaE on Tuesday July 12 2016, @11:58AM
If your ABS system is taking decades to gain traction, you're either driving incredibly fast, or you have the worst implementation of that system that was ever devised.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Thursday July 14 2016, @02:42PM
You know more about robot cars than the project director of Google Cars?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/opinion/sunday/silicon-valley-driven-hype-for-self-driving-cars.html?ref=opinion&_r=1 [nytimes.com]
You are still welcome on my lawn.