Autonomous driving and Elon Musk, the visionary
Like most events involving Elon Musk, yesterday’s Tesla Autonomy Day provided not just a glimpse of the future, but the industry, and to some degree, society.
The occasion was not lacking in bold statements: Tesla has the best autonomous driving chip in the world, seven times more powerful than its rivals and with a second generation already underway; announces fully autonomous vehicles ready for this year offering more than a million miles driving with minimal maintenance; plans a network of more than one million robotaxis in many cities by next year; the possibility of using aggressive autopilot, vehicles without a steering wheel or pedals within two years… According to Musk, buying any other car from now on is throwing money down the drain, because in three years it will be like owning a horse.
We’ve heard these kinds of statements before from Musk when warming up a loyal audience of shareholders — the SEC still wants to talk to him about his use of the twittersphere — and setting the company apart from the competition. There’s no shortage of skeptics. But nevertheless, we should remember that this is the man who has successfully applied the strategy he outlined 12 years ago, updating it 10 years later, meeting his production goals and selling more vehicles in its segment than many other leading carmakers, becoming the best-selling…
