Elon Musk’s Latest Prediction Is Simply Jaw-Dropping
Elon Musk Delivers Bold Prediction
The enigmatic CEO of Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), Elon Musk just gave the world one more thing to be excited about. His announcement could have an enormous impact on TSLA stock—but it’s also just plain cool.
The announcement concerned a new feature Tesla unveiled through its software updates. It is, in many ways, an extension on the update from October, which allowed a select group of “Model S” owners to test the company’s new “Autopilot” function.
Autopilot converts current Model S Tesla vehicles into self-driving cars—well, partially. Although they aren’t fully autonomous yet, the feature does allow Tesla vehicles to drive and change lanes in traffic without assistance from the driver. It is a leap forward in the commercialization of driverless technology.
Now, Elon Musk is unleashing another feature to expand the Autopilot function. (Source: “Elon Musk’s latest prediction wows ahead of Detroit auto show,” MarketWatch, January 11, 2016.)
“Summon” Your Tesla
It’s probably best you hear about Tesla’s new feature from the man himself. Elon Musk is famous for (among other things) tweeting out major events at any of his three companies. Here’s how he told the world about his latest invention:
First baby step in Tesla Summon capability now downloading over-the-air with V7.1
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2016
Tap your phone or key and your car will open the garage door, exit, close the door and come to you. Will do same in reverse for unsummon. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2016
Just to be clear, that means you can command your car to drive itself into or out of the garage. Tesla is obviously testing out the finer points of its driverless technology on private property, at least while the Ministry of Transportation sorts out the regulatory environment.
By itself, the new feature isn’t earth-shattering, but it marks another milestone for Tesla’s self-driving program that’s delivered through a simple update, reinforcing the seamless way in which Tesla can deliver updated technology to its fleet of existing cars.
Elon Musk on the Future of Tesla’s “Summon” Function
Elon Musk is known for talking like a science-fiction writer. He has a bright vision of the future and tries to game out how technology will develop—the only difference between his theories and science fiction being that he actually brings his visions to reality.
So while the new update for Summon is very cool, Musk doesn’t intend to stop there. Here’s his goal for Summon over the next two years.
In ~2 years, summon should work anywhere connected by land & not blocked by borders, eg you’re in LA and the car is in NY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2016
All things considered, that is an incredibly ambitious target. If you could summon your car from LA to New York, it would imply a complete mastery of driverless technology, which would be huge for TSLA stock.
