Tesla Sucks

Tesla is gearing up for something big…

While the media has been focused on Tesla’s new Model Y – and critical of what they refer to as Tesla’s “stale” product lineup – Tesla has been hard at work on technologies that will transform the automotive industry.

And we just got a view of what’s coming in the next 12 months.

Last October we got a look at Tesla’s futuristic design for its fully autonomous Cybercab, which is expected to go into full production next year. The gull wing design and gold metallic color give the Cybercab a futuristic look that will stand out compared to anything else on the road.

Source: Tesla

But what makes the Cybercab so transformative for the industry is that it is designed for full autonomy…

There isn’t even a steering wheel or brake pedals in the vehicle.

Cybercab is a two-passenger design – expected to cost less than $30,000 – and will allow for unsupervised public transportation. That means passengers can relax and even sleep as they are transported to their destination.

Meanwhile, the costs will be low enough to compete with unsubsidized public transportation on a per-mile basis. This will radically shift the public transportation market as the services of Cybercabs become more widely available.

This will create some incredible business opportunities for those willing to invest and build these new autonomous ride-hailing services. Every town could support a fleet of Cybercabs providing low-cost, point-to-point, personalized transportation services.

Entrepreneurs will be able to purchase or lease Cybercabs… and have them go to work autonomously throughout the day and night.

And, here’s the crazy part, even the cleaning and maintenance of the vehicles are autonomous.

That Sucking Robot

Last Friday, Tesla revealed how an autonomous ride-hailing service will be managed, with a wild video of a custom-designed “sucking” robot.

Source: X @Tesla

As we can see above, Tesla’s robotic arm is able to wirelessly connect with the Cybercab and open the doors, seamlessly enter the vehicle, and pick up bags and bottles that may have been left in the Cybercab.

Source: X @Tesla

The robotic arm is able to autonomously switch attachments for different cleaning purposes. Above is the vacuum attachment for cleaning off any debris on the seats or floor.

Source: X @Tesla

Or how about the buffer attachment designed to remove any fingerprints or smudges from the infotainment screen on the dashboard?

For small fleets, a single robotic arm would be sufficient. For larger ones, it would make sense to have a few bays – each equipped with a robotic cleaning arm – that Cybercabs could autonomously drive into for cleaning, leaving a limited number of situations the fleet owner would need to address by hand.

Yet Another Application For Tesla’s Vision-Based AI

Tesla has proactively employed its vision-based artificial intelligence (AI) system – which it has developed for both its full self-driving (FSD) software and its Optimus humanoid robots – to a robotic arm for servicing the Cybercabs.

It is providing an answer to future Cybercab fleet owners as to how to own and maintain fleets of these autonomous vehicles.

This might sound like a niche application for Tesla. But remember, it plans to eventually manufacture 2 million Cybercabs a year. The streets will be crawling with them. In time, they’ll be more commonplace than yellow cabs in most towns.

Autonomous From Birth

Over the weekend, Tesla also demonstrated a new level of autonomy from “birth.”

Below is a clip of a fleet of Teslas literally leaving the factory floor and completing their first drive – autonomously – toward the loading destination. No human sits in the cabin, anywhere.

Source: X @Tesla

The journey shown above and below is a 1.2-mile trip for the Teslas, which depart the factory and arrive at the loading dock lanes in preparation for loading on a car carrier in Fremont, California.

Source: X @Tesla

This may look to some like a parlor trick, but it’s not. This is a lead-up to fully autonomous, unsupervised Teslas.

This is the advantage of a vision-based neural network architecture, which is precisely what sets Tesla’s technology apart from anything else in the industry today.

I can assure you that others in the industry are shaking in their boots. They may not say it publicly, but I guarantee they have ridden in a Telsa running version 13 of full self-driving software…

And they know what’s coming.

In Four Months’ Time

The inevitability of Tesla’s wake-up call to the automotive industry was reinforced by comments from Elon Musk on January 29…

We’re going to be launching unsupervised full self-driving as a paid service in Austin in June.

That’s in just four months.

Musk went further with a simple comment that I’ve written about many times before, which speaks to the difference in Tesla’s AI architecture…

Our solution is a generalized AI solution, it does not require high-precision maps of a locality.

Initially, Tesla will enable Tesla owners and lessees in the Austin area the ability to opt in their cars to go to work for them when they are not being used. Austin will be a test bed for these fully autonomous, shared autonomous vehicle network services.

As Tesla demonstrates how safely and effectively the technology works, it will quickly scale more broadly throughout Texas, which will give Tesla the safety data to present to other states, and for that matter countries, in order to achieve regulatory approval.

Talking about building a competitive moat.

These latest developments are going to be a paradigm shift for the automotive industry. The media has it all wrong…

The key selling point isn’t about coming out with a new design or new models. The key selling point is the underlying tech, cars and trucks that can drive themselves unsupervised. Intelligent robotic systems that recapture our most precious asset – our time. And Tesla is the only company that will be able to demonstrate that.

As for me, I know where I’ll be in June…

Austin, Texas, enjoying some fabulous barbeque and unsupervised rides in Teslas.

Jeff