Mobility – Page 5630 – I wish I had more to offer

Elon Musk emailed employees about how great Tesla’s autonomy day was, but the plan has lots of holes

Tesla CEO Elon Musk views the new Tesla Model Y at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesTesla CEO Elon Musk did what he does best on Monday when he presented bold, visionary promises that only his most loyal followers would take at face value.
Specifically, Musk gave guidance that Tesla will have a million “robotaxis” on the road next year, meaning a million truly driverless cars that can operate commercially in a ride-hailing network, generating passive income for their owners.
Musk celebrated the day in an email to all employees on Monday afternoon.
Subj. Great day for Tesla!
The Autonomy Day was extremely well-received. Feedback has been incredible. [Smiling emoji here.]
Awesome result of extremely intense effort by the Autopilot Team!
[two clapping emoji]
Elon
Promising safe, driverless cars within a year is already exceedingly optimistic. But Musk went further to say that each Tesla — equipped with some future version of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software — could generate $30,000 in gross income for owners each year if operated as a robotaxi.
VIDEO1:2601:26Elon Musk says Tesla will have 'robotaxis' on the road by 2020That's not realistic, considering Tesla's production numbers to date and the average salary of a ride-hailing driver in the US today.
The event served as a distraction from Tesla's recent operational, regulatory and financial troubles, which will be in full focus during the company's first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.
Among some of its recent challenges, Tesla slowed production of its Model S and X vehicles in recent quarters and recently closed stores and laid off thousands of employees. Plus, Musk remains locked in a battle with the SEC over his use of social media to disseminate material business information. Tesla had around $180 million in debt coming due this month. And sales of its Model 3 slowed down in the first quarter.
A history of self-driving promisesIn 2018, ride-hailing trade publication Ridester found that human drivers working 40 hours a week for the likes of Uber or Lyft make annual salaries of about $31,000 before vehicle expenses, and about $20,000 after expenses but before taxes in the US.
Those people are driving cars already deemed street legal, and picking up fares in major cities and at airports where local laws have been, for the most part, hashed out authorizing them to drive there.
Meanwhile, the company has produced only about 600,000 cars to date. Not all of them are still on the road.
Tesla said in its fourth-quarter earnings release that it was aiming to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, about 45 percent to 65 percent more than its deliveries last year.
VIDEO8:0508:05Tesla loses $2.90/share, revenue light, as wellTo reach a million robotaxis in 2020, Tesla would have to continue producing cars near the high-end of its previous guidance. Then, the majority of those cars would have to get the necessary software updates to reach Full Self-Driving status, which currently costs $5,000 when customers order the car or $7,000 as an upgrade if added after delivery, although these prices could change over time. Finally, owners would have to agree to let their cars participate in a Tesla robotaxi network.
Meanwhile, truly driverless vehicles do not yet exist. Tesla doesn't sell one. Neither does any other company.
Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanual Rosner, who took a test drive of the vehicles Tesla showed on Tuesday, was skeptical, writing, “Throughout the ride, the car performed relatively well but experienced a few rough maneuvers and had one disengagement where it failed to recognize cones blocking off some parked vehicles on the side of the road.”
He continued, “Given our own test ride still faced issues despite being on a pre-planned course and under relatively simple road conditions, we believe the company's targeted timeline for both full self-driving and its robotaxi service is at the very least aggressive. Ultimately, we still wonder whether Tesla can even solve the large challenges of fully autonomous driving with its vision-based approach alone.”
Musk has made grandiose promises about self-driving before.
In October 2016, Musk touted Tesla's second-generation autonomous driving hardware, saying that system could power full level 5 autonomy in his company's cars — that means the car could drive in all conditions with zero human attention. Musk said the company expected that a Tesla would be able to complete a hands-free trip across the US by late 2017. As of April 2019, Tesla has not demonstrated any of its vehicles completing such a trip, although self-driving pioneer Anthony Levandowski says a car from his new start-up accomplished the task last December.
Analysts were generally skeptical. Cowen analysts wrote, “The Tesla Network robotaxi plans seemed half baked, with the company appearing toeither not have answers to or not even considered pretty basic question on the pricing,insurance liability, or regulatory and legal requirements.”
Even some historical Tesla bulls were not swayed by the presentation.
Dan Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities said, “The presentation was more visionary and lacked the details the Street wants to know which is key to credibility. It was more geared to the autonomy world as Musk is telling technologists 'don't forget about Tesla,' with Waymo and Uber getting a ton of credit.”
Tesla stock traded down about 4% on Monday, and ticked up by less than a point in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock is down about 30% from its most recent peak in December, and down about 9% from a year ago.
VIDEO2:3902:39Tesla's Elon Musk promises 'robotaxis' by 2020

Kia hands over ‘Green Light Project’ schools to local communities in Malawi and Mozambique

News

All

SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEED

XML

Two new schools provide access to education for more than 2,000 students in Malawi and MozambiqueKia employees from around the globe support auto mechanic vocational training center in Ethiopia during their summer vacationGreen Light Project aims to improve self-sufficiency and mobilityKia Motors has handed over two further ‘Green Light Project’ schools to local communities in Malawi and Mozambique. The community-run schools were opened in 2014, and, combined, provide access to education for more than 2,000 students. They were constructed and established under Kia’s ‘Green Light Project’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. The handover ceremony took place at the ‘Green Light’ school in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, on August 1. The ceremony was attended by residents, teachers, students, local community leaders, Kia’s CSR Management Team Leader, Kyehwan Roh, and Jujong Bum, Director of International Development division at Korea F..

Kia Motors Showcases Next-Generation Separated Sound Zone Technology

News

All

SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEED

XML

Next-generation sound system allows each passenger to listen to different music, headphone-freeMaintains passenger privacy during phone conversationsCan mute sounds unnecessary for passengers, but crucial for the driverAdvanced technology will enhance the automobile experience in the autonomous navigation eraKia Motors corporation revealed for the first time, its next-generation Separated Sound Zone (SSZ) technology that allows each passenger of a vehicle to experience an audio stream tailored to their individual needs, including music, hands-free phone calls, and vehicle alerts, whilst maintaining a headphone-free social space where passengers can converse freely. SSZ technology creates and controls the acoustic fields of the car, allowing the driver and each passenger to hear isolated sounds. The many speakers installed in the vehicle feature technology that uses scientific principles to reduce or increase audio levels of sound waves. This n..

Autonomous vehicles make congestion pricing even more critical

Brooks Rainwater Contributor More posts by this contributor Cities that didn’t win HQ2 shouldn’t be counted out As tasks wane, skills rise Autonomous vehicles will soon be ubiquitous on city streets. Before this happens, we should ask ourselves: Will they whisk us quickly through cities or make traffic worse? A car is a car, whether… Continue reading Autonomous vehicles make congestion pricing even more critical

Jaguar Land Rover ponders bid for minicab firm Addison Lee

Jaguar Land Rover Future growth in driverless vehicles and shared ownership spurs UK’s biggest carmaker The Carlyle Group has put Addison Lee up for sale and hopes to make more than £300m. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian Britain’s biggest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has emerged as a potential contender to buy the private hire firm Addison… Continue reading Jaguar Land Rover ponders bid for minicab firm Addison Lee

GM working on major upgrades to Super Cruise before kicking off 2020 rollout

You’ve probably heard of Autopilot, Tesla’s buzz-worthy advanced driver assist system that combines adaptive cruise control, forward collision warnings, and lane-keep assistance. Less well-known is Super Cruise, the highly automated system developed by Cadillac that is really about as close to autonomous driving as anyone can get today. It’s less well-known because, since its debut… Continue reading GM working on major upgrades to Super Cruise before kicking off 2020 rollout

Ford electric vehicles and hybrids: Here are some of the many models arriving soon

Follow Bengt

2013 Ford Focus Electric
With last week’s announcement of a strategic partnership with electric truckmaker hopeful Rivian, cemented by a pending $500 million equity investment, Ford Motor Company is covering the bases for how the market might evolve and assuring multiple paths toward a future where vehicles with charge ports are the norm.

“Across the world, we're fortifying our franchise strengths in trucks, commercial vehicles, and performance vehicles and bolstering our SUV franchise, executing the unique approach to electric vehicles that takes advantage of our strongest nameplates,” said Ford CEO Jim Hackett on Ford’s Q1 earnings call, the day after the Rivian announcement.

In Ford’s business update the company noted its strengthened electric vehicle plan, which includes a future vehicle developed with Rivian.

Ford said in March 2018 that globally it will be creating 16 fully electric vehicles and 40 electrified vehicles through 2022. Everything the company has said since then about electrification fit neatly into that frame—except for one other thing, autonomous vehicles, which we’ll get to.

THE ELECTRIC CARS

Here, rounded up, are at least some of the fully electric vehicles that Ford has in the works:

2020 Ford electric SUV teaser

Mustang-influenced electric crossover. Ford has been pushing ahead with its plan to build this much-anticipated alternative to the Tesla Model Y. To make sure that the vision doesn’t become too diluted (or convoluted) along the way, it’s been focusing those efforts through a focused electric-vehicle team (Team Edison) that will guide it though all the way to production, delivery, and support.

Although Ford has dodged recent questions about pricing and position for this vehicle, which has been referred to as Mach 1 and Mach E, executives have at several points stressed the importance of affordability and noted that it’s one of the main targets for the project. The electric SUV will land in a middle ground between small EVs like the Hyundai Kona Electric and Chevrolet Bolt EV, and larger premium ones like the Audi E-tron and Tesla Model X. Based on comments from several company officials, expect it to start around $45,000 (or even less) when it arrives, in the second half of 2020.

Fully electric Lincoln crossover. As Ford’s North American president, Kumar Galhotra, said earlier this year, it will emphasize “understated, quiet luxury.” It could arrive as soon as 2021, which would beat the Cadillac EV we’re expecting to be a top alternative.

Other future “C-EV” vehicles—maybe even a sedan. The Ford (and Lincoln) electric vehicles are expected to be just the first two to be conceived on what Ford has described is a scalable electric vehicle platform. This platform, which was conceived to be in what’s called the C-segment globally, is intended to spawn an entire suite of electric-car variants. Although Ford is exiting the traditional, mainstream sedan fold, for instance, company officials have hinted to Green Car Reports that we may see the sedan form factor again in a niche—as a Lincoln EV, perhaps.

Fully electric luxury SUV. The Michigan-based company Rivian plans to introduce its R1T and R1S in the U.S. in late 2020. With last week’s announcement, the two companies will “work together to develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard platform.” Rivian has already teased a tow rating of up to 11,000 pounds and a range of up to 400 miles, aided by battery packs of up to 180 kwh.

2019 Ford F-150 RTR

Fully electric F-150. Ford has confirmed it’s a project, but that’s about it. Since the F-150 is at the core of Ford’s heritage and profitability, you can bet it’s moving along, Rivian venture or not. Just don’t expect it to arrive quite as soon. But with continued U.S. demand for the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, which are based on the F-150, we could see this paying off in broader scope.

THE HYBRIDS (SOME PLUG-IN)

Unlike GM, which discontinued the Chevrolet Volt and sees electric as a near-term future for the company, Ford aims to push full hybrids and plug-in hybrids out in more of its next-generation vehicles:

2020 Ford F-150 hybrid. Separate from the fully electric F-150 project, Ford is producing an F-150 hybrid, and it’s due soon—as a 2020 model. The F-150 hybrid is expected to use a 10-speed automatic transmission, as part of a hybrid system that should still allow a wider range of engine-off coasting and idling without sacrificing much if any towing or hauling ability. Ford has teased that the F-150 will have a power takeoff for tools and worksites—a feature that would be even more useful with a charge port, if that’s a hint.

2020 Lincoln Aviator plug-in hybrid

2020 Lincoln Aviator plug-in hybrid. The Aviator plug-in hybrid will come with a version of Ford’s soon-to-be-ubiquitous 10-speed modular-hybrid transmission. It will be the top-performing version in the Aviator lineup as well, with a projected 450 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. The Ford Explorer on which it’s based is (in the U.S.) only available as a hybrid, with the Explorer plug-in hybrid saved for Europe for now.

2020 Lincoln Corsair, 2019 New York International Auto Show

2020 Ford Escape plug-in hybrid and 2020 Lincoln Corsair plug-in hybrid. These models arrive later in 2019 and employ a revised version of the variable-ratio/planetary hybrid system Ford has used in a number of other hybrid products, including the C-Max Energi and going back to the previous Escape Hybrid.

2020 Ford Mustang hybrid. A hybridized version of Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission is also going to be the basis for the Hybrid Mustang. The hybrid pony car is likely to gallop to the performance potential of hybrid tech rather than eke out every possible mpg—possibly with a V-8 still a part of the presentation.

New Ford Bronco

2021 Ford Bronco hybrid. Ford still hasn’t confirmed final specs for its much-anticipated Bronco—or even revealed its production form—yet the company long ago confirmed that it would arrive in leaner shape, with a hybrid version.

Behind The Scenes At Tesla’s Seat Factory — #CleanTechnica Field Trip

Invest
Electric Cars
Electric Car Benefits
Electric Car Sales
Solar Energy Rocks
RSS
Advertise
Privacy Policy

Autonomous Vehicles

Published on April 27th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Behind The Scenes At Tesla’s Seat Factory — #CleanTechnica Field Trip

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook

April 27th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla invited CleanTechnica to its Fremont Factory and snuck in some time at its seat factory. Zach Shahan wrote up a beautiful article about Tesla’s seat factory and Chanan Bos put together a fantastic video documenting the happenings inside the factory for CleanTechnica TV. That’s all for your viewing pleasure, of course.

The factory where Tesla builds its seats may not sound exciting, but as probably the only automotive manufacturer that builds its own seats, we were enthused about our exclusive look into what is a very unique factory in the automotive industry. Tesla has not only brought seat manufacturing in-house. It has also applied the automation it has become known for in the industry to its seat factory. This automation has resulted in the most highly automated lower seat assembly in the automotive world, which you can see in our video below.

Tesla was kind to pull back the curtain on its seat manufacturing operations, where we were able to get an inside look at the careful balance of automation and human-supported manufacturing that goes into the seats for its vehicles.

The seats that go into Tesla’s vehicles are not just any seats — they are world-class automotive seats that are assembled with vegan fabric that’s not only an adequate substitute for leather, but is actually superior in every noteworthy way. Tesla’s vegan leather seats, aesthetically beautiful (that’s a fact), are admirably durable, highly stain resistant, super soft, and (of course) greener than the norm.

Our video above provides a unique insight into the technology Tesla applies to the seats that it puts into its vehicles. That said, while the seats are important to a select few parts of your body, they are not even close to the most technologically advanced parts of the car. Just wait until we dig into Tesla’s Autopilot hardware and battery management systems. That’s when it gets really exciting. You can start to see the future through the possibilities of each technology individually and more so collectively as part of the whole car.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.

CleanTechnica Clothing & Cups

Ride to future: Auto firms are crafting new strategies to stay on track

In this digital era, disruptions have become routine. But not many disruptions are as deep and comprehensive as those facing the automobile industry. With 3% of global car sales today, India is expected to drive half the additional global demand. To be sure, these upheavals have been in the works for a decade now. In… Continue reading Ride to future: Auto firms are crafting new strategies to stay on track

PayPal is investing $500 million into Uber as part of the ride-hailing firm’s $90 billion IPO

PayPal will invest $500 million in Uber, the ride-hailing company revealed in an updated IPO filing on Friday. Uber is preparing to go public on the New York stock exchange, and set its share price at $44 to $50 per share in an amended S-1 filing to the SEC. At the high end, this price… Continue reading PayPal is investing $500 million into Uber as part of the ride-hailing firm’s $90 billion IPO