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The transportation industry is evolving, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a driving force behind that evolution.
Ten years ago, Musk first outlined his master plan, which included the development of affordable electric cars (including the recently released Tesla Model 3). Now, Musk has released his “Master Plan, Part Deux,” which shifts emphasis from the development of electric cars to the implementation of new (sometimes controversial) autonomous driving technology. Not only does Musk hope to apply this technology to Tesla vehicles, but also expand to self-driving buses and trucks. This could mean trucks on autopilot that could lead to “a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transportation” in long trips.
According to Musk, the purpose of these plans is to “[accelerate] the advent of sustainable energy, so that we can imagine far into the future and life is still good. That’s what ‘sustainable’ means. It’s not some silly, hippy thing – it matters for everyone.”
Aside from driverless vehicles, Musk also mentioned plans to scale his company’s home energy storage device known as Powerwall after the recent acquisition of SolarCity. This would create a fully integrated individual utility system.
While much of the attention on the autonomous vehicle was shifted to public transportation and cargo in the plan, Musk did not forget about Tesla’s own commercial vehicles. Musk’s future vision includes all Tesla vehicles being autonomous. Future, your Tesla car could function as a self-driving taxi for others when you’re not using the vehicle, being summoned by the push of a button on your smartphone and earning you money.
