Tesla's plan for the next 5 years

The growth needed to transition to electric vehicles

Tesla

Elon Musk's new master plan isn't ready yet. Tesla's CEO was asked about the company's five-year plan and his updated master plan at the stakeholder's meeting in August. While he didn't get into specifics, Tesla's head of investor relations reportedly did spill the beans at a Goldman Sachs invite-only tech conference. Martin Viecha gave one of the world's largest investment banks plenty of details on how the company will look and what will be accomplished by 2027-28.

Business Insider quoted the Tesla employee stating, "EV architecture is so different from internal combustion engine, it allows for a third revolution in automotive manufacturing."

Undoubtedly, Tesla has led the way in the electric vehicle space. However, that space is getting more competitive, with longer-established auto manufacturers ramping up electric vehicle production.

The audience of investors wanted to hear how Tesla would compete. Viecha repeated numbers from Tesla's second quarter earnings call. The cost of building the product has dropped by more than half in the last seven years.

He said in 2017, it cost $84,000 to make one of their vehicles, but it is now down to $36,000. Incredibly, those cost savings were not from batteries or supplies but from better vehicle designs and optimizing factories. Viecha said the cost per car manufactured is the most critical metric to monitor. It dictates how many vehicles can be built and just how big Tesla can become. He clarified that the company will continue to find ways to lower production costs.

With the falling cost of production, the interest in a less expensive Tesla continues to rise. While the term, Model 2 (Details on Model 2), was not reported, it's no secret that this has been on the company's radar for some time. Viecha says the company wants to be a high-volume automaker. Therefore, a more affordable option is necessary to broaden the portfolio.

However, the demand for the Model 3 and the Model Y is still so high that a new Model is not needed any time soon. That's an essential point because the head of investor relations said that a cheaper Tesla would be used in the Robotaxi (everything we know about the Robotaxi) production.

Of course, the investors needed some reassurance about Full Self-Driving. Musk has publicly stated that FSD can make the company worth a lot. Viecha said that supervised FSD is underway. He said more than 100,000 people are using FSD in the United States. However, he reiterated the point that the only way the system can improve is by collecting data.

Also, interesting to note that Viecha assigned generation numbers to Tesla products. The first generation is the Model S and Model X. While the second generation is the Model 3 and Model Y. He referred to Robotaxi and presumable the Model 2 as the third generation. However, with the Tesla Semi ready to roll and the Cybertruck coming next year, perhaps he wants to revise the generation breakdown for the next investor meeting.

Tesla Increases Price of Model S; Starts Offering Free Lifetime Supercharging

Not a Tesla App

For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.

Price Increase

The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.

The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series. 

The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.

Free Lifetime Supercharging

For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.

There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.

We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.

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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

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Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

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