In a series of responses to Twitter questions over the weekend, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk gave an update of things to come from the electric car manufacturer and its growing line of autonomous vehicles. Musk said that Tesla will be releasing upgrades to its hardware every year or year-and-a-half, which is a more aggressive pace of revising car models than traditional carmakers like Ford, GM, and Toyota.
Tesla will never stop innovating. People are buying the wrong car if they expect this. There will be major revs every 12 to 18 months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2017
If we applied resources to doing super complex retrofits, our pace of innovation would drop dramatically
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2017
The reason behind this intense pace of upgrades – which could include new sensors, computers, and other components – is Musk's dedication to innovation (which is also evidenced as he pushes the boundaries of human civilization into space). However, some critics suggest that these updates may actually turn off Tesla owners. A Tesla is an investment, but with new updates constantly making old models obsolete, some customers are bound to be upset.
But Musk is willing to trade off getting more Tesla owners for more innovation. He also noted how retrofitting older models would be more complicated, as well as counterproductive. The best alternative, it would seem, are these periodic updates. This pace may take some getting used to, but it could also eventually lead us to a future with Level 5 autonomy.
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