Kimbal Musk Predicts when Driving will be Fully Autonomous
YouTube/Graham Bensinger
Kimbal Musk, stepping out from the shadow of his famous brother, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, is the focus of a series of interviews on the YouTube channel Graham Bensinger. The video showcases Full Self Driving technology in action, with Musk engaging FSD on his Model S to navigate autonomously to their location. This demonstration, particularly striking to Bensinger, who appears unaware of Tesla's advancements, really illustrates the potential of FSD and how many people don’t understand it.
The Road to Full Autonomy: Challenges and Breakthroughs
However, Musk is candid about the challenges ahead, particularly the regulatory hurdles that Tesla must overcome. He predicts that full autonomy could be achievable within five years, contingent upon navigating the intricate landscape of government regulations and ensuring the technology meets rigorous safety standards.
During the interview, Musk parallels the seismic shift from gas cars to Teslas, like the Blackberry to the iPhone. The host seems unaware of many of Tesla’s features, including asking about the “custom” steering wheel. It is a yoke steering wheel which Musk explains is not merely a design novelty but a strategic step towards the future of autonomous driving. Musk envisions a scenario where traditional steering mechanisms become obsolete, making way for vehicles that drive themselves with minimal human intervention. Drawing an analogy between the shift from Blackberry to iPhone, Musk captures the essence of technological evolution, where radical changes often become the new normal.
The Future of the Automotive Industry: Tesla's Impact
Tesla's journey from the Model S launch to the most recent Cybertruck unveiling encapsulates a decade of unparalleled innovation. Musk highlights the Model S as a hallmark of Tesla's achievements, emphasizing its role not just as an electric vehicle but as a symbol of luxury, performance, and sustainability. His preference for the Model S stems from its spaciousness and pioneering status, which he likens to the revolutionary impact of the Model T Ford.
As interesting as Kimbal Musk's comments were, the short video's most striking element is the lack of awareness the host has about FSD and Tesla. The host is not alone. If you have FSD, you’ve likely seen the same surprised expressions when your car starts navigating independently. It serves as another reminder that Tesla most make the public more aware of the technology and counter the negative attention given to FSD through mainstream media.
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Tesla Investor Relations has officially confirmed that they will conduct the Robotaxi unveiling event on October 10th in Los Angeles. Event sign-up will be done using a random drawing for Tesla shareholders. The final date for entries is a week from today, on September 17th at midnight, and the selected shareholders will be announced the week of September 23rd.
Sign Up
You’ll need to own Tesla stock ($TSLA) to participate and will be required to verify your shareholder status on the Investor Relations site. The random drawing provides a better opportunity for those who hold lots of Tesla shares, as they’ll have a higher number of entries. You get one entry per confirmed share held.
At the moment, there are no details on the timing of the event, nor anything about +1 attendees. However, one item of note is that event draw winners cannot transfer their tickets to another party – which means if you get a ticket, it's for you and nobody else.
If you’re located in the United States, you can use ‘Say’ – Tesla’s Investor Relations partner – to automatically verify your shareholder status. For those outside of the United States, unless you’re trading with an American bank, you will need to provide an updated statement showing shareholder status for September 2024. Say takes about 3-5 business days to verify statements, so be sure to sign up early.
Robotaxi Event
The Robotaxi event will take place at the Warner Bros. Discovery Studios in LA, and Tesla has been pre-emptively gathering FSD data around the neighborhood. This likely means that the event will include a demonstration of Robotaxi’s capabilities and a reveal of the Robotaxi itself. We’re hoping that attendees will have the opportunity to sit in and experience Robotaxi delivering them from Point A to Point B inside of the Discovery Studios set pieces.
It’s expected to be one of Tesla’s most interesting and notable events, as this is the first reveal of the much-talked-about Robotaxi, which has been Tesla’s goal for its Full Self-Driving software since Elon Musk’s Masterplan I.
Tesla’s latest FSD update, version 2024.27.5 brings some improvements when parking your vehicle. This is another undocumented, but one we’re happy to see.
Most recently, the Cybertruck received the undocumented change for the Hands-Free Frunk opening (video below). The Cybertruck also recently received Vision Park Assist, which included steering wheel guides in the visualization showing the direction the front and rear wheels were turned. However, it turns out this isn’t just for the Cybertruck.
Update: We’ve updated this article to mention that this feature isn’t included in update 2024.32 yet.
Quick video on the auto frunk. It's literally 🧍♂️📐
Due to the Cybertruck’s unique rear-wheel steering and steer-by-wire design, Park Assist in the Cybertruck displayed the path of the front wheels, and how they would swing while reversing.
This enhancement is also coming to every Tesla vehicle in FSD 12.5.2 and later. It’s also expected to be available in a future update for non-FSD vehicles. However, it’s unclear whether it will be a later revision of update 2024.32 or the next major Tesla update. This is a neat little update, as it helps drivers better understand and predict the path their vehicle will take during a turn.
Brandon, going by @teslaflexx on X, originally spotted the new visuals recently on an AMD-based Model Y running 2024.27.5 and FSD V12.5.2.
Any vehicles who are on update 2024.27.5 or 2024.27.20 should have access to this new feature.
Looks like Cybertruck wasn’t the only vehicle to get the new guide visuals with park assist. Much better than the lines! pic.twitter.com/tF9ZsWCcWy
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