Tesla Talks About It's Next-Gen Vehicles and 'Infinite Demand'

Tesla talks about it's next-gen vehicles at Investor Day

Tesla (Edited by Not a Tesla App)

Tesla's Investor Day peaked at around 145 thousand viewers on YouTube as the company's vehicle designer and engineering leaders gave their presentation. Viewers were hoping for a new product announcement. However, the view count quickly dropped, and the nasty comments increased as the leaders wrapped up their portion of the show.

After a presentation on reducing costs and finding efficiencies, chief designer Franz von Holzhausen said, "I think our track record proves that we can deliver the best cars, and we deliver the best cars despite, because of, these constraints. I'd love to show you what I mean and unveil the next-gen car. But you are going to have to trust me on that until a later date."

Then, perhaps sensing the disappointment as the air left the room, he added, "I promise we will always be delivering exciting, compelling, and desirable vehicles as we always have."

Not One, But Multiple New Teslas

While we have to wait for the next platform launch, we did get some more details. Lars Moravy, the Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, said, "The next-generation platform is not one vehicle; it is multiple, and it's in a segment that we really try to focus on affordability and desirability."

He added, "Our next-generation platform is more than one segment, and really we are thinking of all the segments that are available that we haven't captured and where the market would be."

So while we have been trying to determine if the next vehicle will be an affordable car or a "highly configurable" van, both guesses are correct. Tesla has major plans for the affordable car, often called the Model 2. A slide detailing what Tesla's global fleet would look like to achieve a sustainably powered earth, the covered-up 'Model 2', accounts for nearly all of the other cars models combined. The Master Plan suggests there are 700 million cars in the Model 2's category and 740 million of the rest.

Franz Talking About the Next-Gen Platform

Watch Franz von Holzhausen talk about Tesla's next-gen platform. The video below starts at the beginning of the segment:

Easier Said Than Done

It's not so easy to create a vehicle that will change the world. Musk stated, "The issue is how do we build the cars. The hard part is how do we build the cars. I can't emphasize that enough. The hard part is building the cars and the entire supply chain that goes with the cars. This is a logistics challenge of extraordinary difficulty."

It's not just building the physical car but also where to make it, according to Zach Kirkhorn, Tesla's CFO. "As we have been thinking about our next-generation platform, we have been thinking about the volume that we aspire to build against that, how many individual factories do we need to build, and what is the fastest possible way to expand that footprint around the world."

Infinite Demand

So, while investors may go away disappointed in the short term, long-term, there is plenty of positives. Musk was asked about the risk of the new affordable car taking away the demand for other Teslas. His answer was very pointed, "demand for our existing vehicles in terms of the desire to own them might as well be infinite. It's indistinguishable from infinite at this point. Affordability is what matters, as you get the car more affordable, demand will go crazy - basically."

Tesla Is Now Offering Cybertruck Test Drives [List of Locations]

@brandonhd

Tesla has begun to reach out to customers in the United States and is offering demo drives of the Cybertruck on an invite-only basis. @brandonhd on X shared the first invite image, and it looks like it's going out quite quickly to multiple locations that have Cybertrucks on display.

Up until now, display vehicles have been for just that – looking, but no touching. Some Tesla delivery centers and showrooms have also allowed viewers to take a seat inside and open it up, but most are still locked away behind the velvet rope.

It’s exciting to see that Tesla has begun to demo them – and it can only be so long until demo drives open up to everyone.

Advisor-led Demo

This Demo Drive is led by a Tesla Advisor – while you’re driving, the advisor will be in the passenger seat, walking you through the experience. They’ll explain steer-by-wire, off-road controls, and will introduce new-to-Tesla buyers to all the features that are currently available.

Once FSD V12.5 comes to the Cybertruck, we’re sure they’ll be demoing its capabilities FSD capabilities as well.

Locations

The list of locations so far for demo drives appears to be fairly limited, but we will hopefully see demo drives roll out throughout the United States, and eventually Canada too. Here is the current list of city/state locations that have seen demo drive invites.

• Manhasset, New York

• West Covina, California

• Los Angeles, California

• Houston, Texas

• Orlando, Florida

• Westmont, Illinois

• Tucson, Arizona

• Phoenix, Arizona

• Delaware

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Musk Confirms 'Actually Smart Summon' is Coming in a Revision of FSD V12.5

Not a Tesla App

Actually Smart Summon, the successor to Tesla’s Smart Summon feature, has been confirmed to be coming as soon as next month as per Elon Musk. Colloquially known as “ASS”, Actually Smart Summon is supposed to improve on the regular Smart Summon capabilities, which have historically used ultrasonic sensors (USS) to navigate parking lots.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon, and we’re quite excited about what other features will be unlocked once it finally shows up at our doorstep.

Vision-based Improvements

ASS is supposed to bring Smart Summon to vehicles that don’t have USS – using Tesla Vision. Most recently, Tesla has brought Autopark to vehicles without USS, and Vision-based Autopark has been a huge success. It is faster, more reliable, and smoother than the older USS-based solution. It can also park and maneuver in tighter locations.

Just recently, Tesla returned the Model X’s self-presenting doors, using Tesla Vision. Vision has seen some fantastic improvements, and many people are waiting for ASS to bring forth these improvements to Smart Summon.

Smart Summon Today

Today, Smart Summon is sometimes useful at best, usually a party trick, or downright dangerous at worst. It’s excellent and best used in straight lines, where you have a clear line of sight of the vehicle, and can stop it if doesn’t see an obstacle.

I used Smart Summon today, just before writing this article – my 2022 Model Y (with USS) – did manage to show up just fine – in a straight-line location from where I was parked, after exiting the parking spot fairly cleanly. However, I’ve previously used Smart Summon and have had the vehicle turn towards obstacles, such as cart returns or curbs. Overall, it’s a sometimes-useful feature that has a lot of drawbacks right now.

Smart Summon is also restricted to a certain distance – and it's pretty small. The max distance is shorter than most parking lots, being only about 215 ft (65m). If you’re lucky enough to park close, it's very useful to bring your car right to you.

Actually Smart Summon

ASS will bring FSD V12-like capabilities to Smart Summon – the vehicle will primarily use Vision to drive toward you (or the location you’ve indicated). ASS has been supposed to be coming since about September 2022 and has seen many delays – we’re almost at the 2-year point today.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon being able to bring the vehicle – safely – right to you. ASS is also one of the key steps towards bringing some other cool features that Elon Musk has previously mentioned – Park Seek and Banish Autopark.

We’re also hopeful that Actually Smart Summon will increase the maximum range a vehicle can be summoned, because the current range is fairly small. Alongside Park Seek and Banish Autopark, we’re closing in on a Robotaxi-based future.

Park Seek and Banish Autopark

When the FSD v12.4 showed up, Elon also mentioned that going forward, vehicles would automatically park themselves when arriving in a parking lot – Park Seek – and that if you got out of the car at the entrance to a business, you could get it to automatically park itself in the parking lot – Banish Autopark. These are two features that are needed for Robotaxi to work – which itself is delayed to October 10^th of this year. We’re looking quite forward to them – as in combination with Actually Smart Summon, Tesla has reached the cusp of vehicle autonomy.

A vehicle that arrives, driverless, at the location you’re at, then drives somewhere, parks itself there, and waits for you – is the definition of a Robotaxi.

While we’re likely to have to wait for Banish Autopark and Park Seek just a bit longer, Actually Smart Summon being around the corner is exciting! Gone will be the days of having to run out to your car when you forgot your umbrella – your car will just come right to you instead.

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