An Annual Update
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk is a showman, perhaps on par with Apple's Steve Jobs when it comes to big reveals during public appearances.
His usual platform is Tesla's annual shareholder meeting, but yesterday, he didn't deliver much by way of reveals. Still, Musk did paint the general direction Tesla would be taking in the next several months while addressing the shareholders and responding to questions from Twitter.
If you missed the livestream of the presentation, don't fret. Here's everything you need to know from it.
An SUV, a Semi, and...an Airplane?
Musk mentioned three upcoming vehicles that Tesla has been working on: the Model 3, the Model Y, and an electric semi truck (that last one's so exciting it deserved an article all to itself).
The Model 3 is expected to be released by the end of the month, and Musk emphasized the vehicle's relative simplicity. “I should say that we’ve kept the initial configurations of the Model 3 very simple,” said the CEO. “A big mistake we made with the X, which is primarily my responsibility — there was way too much complexity right at the beginning. That was very foolish.”
Attendees were then treated to a first look at the Model Y, Tesla's electric crossover SUV. The image is decidedly lacking in detail, so we still have very little to go on with this model, but we do know that it's slated for a 2019 release and would be built on a completely new platform. In fact, Tesla would build an entirely new factory for its production.
Oh, and an electric plane somewhere down the road is also not "inconceivable," according to Musk.
Autopilot Updates
Musk also offered updates on Tesla's Autopilot, claiming that the company will be rolling out improvements to the system for its Hardware 2 vehicles. Since its split with Mobileye — the Israeli software maker responsible for the earlier versions of Tesla's self-driving system — Tesla has been developing its own semi-autonomous software. While some consumers have had some issues with the autonomous system in Tesla's new vehicles, Musk said that it's now almost better than the Mobileye version.
Tesla Music?
Usually, after Musk points out a problem, he shares a solution for it (see: traffic and the Boring Company). At yesterday's meeting, Musk shared his criticisms of today's music algorithms and playlist quality, and in typical Musk fashion, he plans to do something about it. He says Tesla will release a music service or feature later this year, and “it’s gonna be the music you want to listen to.”
A Busy Man
After being asked about how he spends his time, Musk made reference to his late-night tweets. He admitted that he would "sometimes go crazy" on Twitter, but he blames it on music, wine, and a sedative. “You know, [when] there’s a little red wine, a vintage record player, some Ambien. Magic. Magic happens,” he said, later echoing the sentiment (where else?) in a tweet.
Musk also explained that he generally spends 90 percent of his time working on Tesla and SpaceX, while dividing the rest between Neuralink (3 to 5 percent), the Boring Company (2 percent), and Open AI (less than 2 percent).
Something More in September
Like a true showman, Musk was sure to include a cliffhanger in his presentation to keep the people wanting mroe. “There’s a few other things I haven’t mentioned here. I just like, really recommend showing up for the semi truck unveiling,” he said. “Maybe there’s a little more than we’re saying here. Maybe. Could be. Who knows?”
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