Roger Fingas
Tesla has let slip some more information on its upcoming ridesharing program, which will eventually let the company's cars pick up fares while their owners stay at home or at work, cutting the cost of ownership.
"Please note that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year," Tesla said in a disclaimer about its Model S line, which can now be bought with the hardware — though not the software — for full self-driving capabilities. The text was highlighted by Reuters.
CEO Elon Musk teased a ridesharing service in July as a part of new corporate plans. Until now, though, Tesla has mentioned extremely little, beyond the fact that people would be able to add their cars to a Tesla fleet via a phone app. In cities where there aren't many Teslas on the road, the automaker said it plans to offer ride hailing on its own.
The company may be poised to offer competition for firms like Uber and Lyft, though it would likely have to run many vehicles itself to pose a competitive threat.
Apple could theoretically go in the same direction with its own rumored car, but the fate of that project is in the air. While engineers are still believed to be developing self-driving systems, the company is reportedly waiting until late 2017 to decide whether it wants to build its own car or partner with an existing manufacturer.
Tesla is meanwhile making rapid progress in autonomous systems. The Model S already has limited driving assists in its "Autopilot" technology, and next year the company is hoping to have a test vehicle drive itself cross-country from Los Angeles to New York. Full autonomy will only come to the public in stages, dependent not just on AI improvements but clearing legal barriers.
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Malcolm Owen
18 Comments
Preventing Tesla owners from using their own vehicles for their own benefit? Yeah, I don't think that'll hold water if challenged in court.
Your car arrives back at your place of work followed by four police cars and a stash of grade-a cocaine in the passenger seat.
Could Apple's plans re autonomous vehicles be to create a self driving 'bubble' type car to be deployed on a fleet basis for companies like Didi? I wonder if the Didi's and the Uber's of this world will be Apple's primary customers. What Tesla is doing with the S model is very different. It is hard to imagine a car like the S-model being the dominant autonomous car-for-revenue model. It is way too much of a car, too expensive and to bulky. That is not to say that if you want to own a Tesla and can't afford it, or just want to put it to revenue generating use, you won't be able to. There will be plenty of room for different business models. It is just that as urban sprawls become denser and more populous and traffic becomes more difficult, and car ownership becomes (already is) extremely expensive, the Uber style fleet model seems a like a likely scenario.
Can the car take itself to be valeted after the Tesla network hires it out to stag party?
Telsa is king!