Elon Musk is at it again. 10 years ago, he created a master plan outlining where he wanted to take Tesla, discussing improved sustainability and scaled production costs. Now, he has forecasted the next 10 years, and his verbatim milestones follow.
· Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
· Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major [vehicle] segments
· Develop a self-driving capability via massive fleet learning that is 10x safer than manual
· Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it
Musk also discussed the name ‘Autopilot’ for the software behind its partial vehicle autonomy, something that we touched on a few weeks ago with the recent Tesla crash. Concerning the name, Musk stressed that it should always be referred to as ‘Autopilot beta’, despite extensive internal validation that would suggest a non-beta product. This branding strategy will hopefully keep users from growing complacent with the feature. In Musk’s own words, “once we get to the point where Autopilot is approximately 10 times safer than the US vehicle average, the beta label will be removed.”
Quite the goals. Solar powered roofs and money-making cars. Let’s see where the branding takes us, shall we?