Elon Musk thinks Tesla car technologies will make the company as profitable as Apple.
Musk told analysts at the company’s latest earnings call that the company could generate a $700 billion market cap in 10 years by “going at the machine that builds the machine.”
“Which involves, by the way, a tremendous amount of software,” he explained. “This is not just a bunch of robots that are sitting there. It’s programming of the robots and how they interact. And it’s far more complex than the software in the car.”
Musk thinks the Tesla Model 3 autonomous car will make the company a major force in car technologies and with the best battery technology supported by solar power which the company has been able to add to its vehicles through its acquisition with SolarCity, Musk thinks Tesla will rule the car roost.
22/11/2017: Tesla demos autonomous car tech
Tesla has revealed a video demonstrating how its cars navigate around the roads, including video technology that can see through adverse weather to see what’s ahead and respond appropriately.
The video offers up an almost-360-degree view of the Tesla car, showing off how it uses its eight cameras to see what’s on every single side and avoiding hazards everywhere it turns.
It recognises where the lines dividing the lanes are, ensuring it always stays in the centre of the lane and understands the difference between a car and another moving object, for example. It can also read road signs, streetlights and other objects – whether they are regular sights on the road or not.
Any hazards, such as other road users or pedestrians are highlighted using colour-coded boxes that follow potential hazards around, so the Tesla car can always keep an eye of potential risks and avoid them.
27/10/2016: All future Tesla cars will be autonomous
Elon Musk has announced all future Tesla cars will be able to drive themselves, with autonomous driving technology built into them.
Although Tesla’s Autopilot feature has come under fire recently because some of its cars have been involved in fatal accidents, that hasn’t deterred the company. In fact, it’s made Tesla even more determined to launch a fully-autonomous vehicle.
To make the technology safer, the new cars are equipped with a suite of cameras and sensors, helping the vehicles achieve level five autonomy, which is the highest possible, requiring no interaction at all from the driver.
Each car will have eight cameras, offering a full 360-degree view of the road, while ultrasonic sensors around the car’s entire chassis will make it one of the most advanced sense and avoid system available. There will also be a forward-facing radar that provides additional information to the CPU, including seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust and the car in front.
At the centre of the car will be a supercomputer with 40 times more processing power than current Tesla vehicles.
The vehicles will include all of that technology on top of an updated GPS system, inertial measurement unit and other parts of tesla’s driving ecosystem already installed in Tesla Autopilot-enabled cars.
All this tech won’t come cheap though. It’ll add $8000 (£6500) onto each car, rather than the $3000 £2500) Autopilot costs as an add-on at the moment.
The tech is already available in Tesla Model S and Model X cars being produces right now, and they are available for customers to order now.
“Self-driving vehicles will play a crucial role in improving transportation safety and accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable future,” the company said in the announcement. “Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car and provide low-cost on-demand mobility for those who do not.”
