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Tesla CEO Elon Musk first floated the idea of launching a robotaxi network using autonomous Teslas in 2019, saying he…
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About 12 years ago , not long after Tesla start out delivering the Model S , chief designer Franz von Holzhausen started to remember about what an autonomous vehicle might bet like .
Von Holzhausen play a primal use at Tesla conduce the design squad on the Model 3 and Model Y , as well as the Tesla Semi . But as von Holzhausen told TechCrunch in an consultation on the sidelines of the UP.Summit this calendar month , in the background he had already pop out doing the design study for a robotaxi in his head .
“ I just suppose that it felt inevitable we would get there , ” he tell , explaining why he started imagine about it so early .
Now more than a decade afterward , Tesla isabout to reveala robotaxi at an October 10 event in Los Angeles . It’snot clearif it will just be a construct version , a more full - fledged prototype , or something else . And it succeed years of unmet promises from CEO Elon Musk about when Tesla would show off such a vehicle or make the underlying technology work without involve human supervision .
Von Holzhausen did n’t divvy up specific of what Tesla will show except to say it would be “ challenging , ” “ interesting , ” and “ fun . ” He did say the company ’s survive portfolio of vehicles laid the foundation of what ’s to fare .
“ In a strange form of way of life , we ’ve been work our elbow room — in a very public way — to what an autonomous future will look like , ” he said . “ So you see the braggart interface that we have , the way it ’s configurable and upgradable , and we bring a variety of entertainment pieces to it , and some humor as well . And I think that will continue to evolve . ”
Von Holzhausen said the thought of introducing engineering science to the client through conception has been a continuous screw thread in Tesla ’s story .
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“ The self - present threshold handle in the early Day — that was like a handshake with technology , ” he remember . “ It was getting us comfortable with the fomite becoming part of our daily life-time . ”
Von Holzhausen is bright and ready for a hereafter where autonomous drive is widely accessible .
“ I desperately do n’t want my kids to have to worry about getting a driver ’s license , or driving at all , ” he order .
The designer equated this current epoch to the tumultuous transition from horse and buggy to machine — a comparison his political boss has made many time over the years .
“ There was one way of dumbfound around forever and everybody was accustomed to it — you had to do it , ” he allege . “ Nobody talks about the bad side of that state of affairs , ” he say , noting how horse had to be housed , fed , and cleaned up after .
“ And people tolerated that , ” he said . “ So we ’re kind of in a like situation where we ’re just tolerate what we know . ”
“ I consider the opportunity for a basal modification to something that mayhap seems scary , and will release a little bit of control , is the challenge . But it ’s also the opportunity , ” he articulate . “ And that opportunity for me as a designer I think is really great because now we have the ability to form how people practice their metre , what their life can be like , how they can get to place where they would n’t have go before , and what their experiences can be like . ”
From the Storyline:Tesla We, Robot event: Everything Elon Musk just showed, including the Cybercab, Robovan, and more
Tesla CEO Elon Musk first floated the idea of set up a robotaxi internet using autonomous Teslas in 2019 , saying he …
