Elon Musk revealed the second part of the so-called "Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan" on Wednesday night, which the company is calling "Master Plan, Part Deux."
Musk began by laying out why Tesla seeks to buy SolarCity. Without the two being one, Musk won't be able to create an integrated solar-roof-with-battery product "that just works." With such a product, Musk sees people taking the utility into their own hands.
SEE ALSO:Consumer Reports calls for Tesla to disable and rename AutopilotMoving on, he laid out his plans for the kinds of vehicles Tesla will build next. These include a compact SUV and a "new kind of pickup truck" as well as the already-unveiled Model 3 sedan. Musk is calling the truck the 'Tesla Semi.' Its variants will serve as both heavy-duty trucks -- semi trucks -- and urban transport, like buses. Musk plans to unveil these vehicles sometime in the next year.
Musk turned his attention to autonomy, saying it would be "morally reprehensible to delay" the technology and disable Autopilot, even in the face of recent crashes involving the system. He also emphasized that, in the future, every one of the vehicles his company builds will include hardware "necessary to be fully self-driving with fail-operational capability."
Once Tesla has mastered autonomous driving, Musk wants to go after Uber and Lyft. Musk envisions privately owned autonomous cars -- in this case, Teslas -- driving around on their own and essentially serving as autonomous taxis, making the owner money when it might otherwise sit idle.
Finishing off the post, he summarized the second part of Tesla's master plan thusly:
Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it
Musk's new plan is a sequel to the first Tesla mater plan, revealed in a blog post in 2006. In that revelation, Musk laid out a seemingly rather simple scheme with the end goal of helping "expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy."
In short, here was the original secret plan:
Build sports car
Use that money to build an affordable car
Use thatmoney to build an even more affordable car
While doing above, provide zero emission electric power generation options
Keen Tesla followers will note that the plan has changed a bit over the last decade. And most of those changes stem from the fact that building a profitable car company from scratch is difficult.
In the first part of the plan, Musk projected he'd be able to sell the company's second car, that we now know as the Model S, for halfthe price of the $89,000 Tesla Roadster. The cheapest Model S you can buy today is $70,000, and the average transaction price for a Model S is above the $100,000 mark.
Even with those high sales prices, Tesla has never turned a profit since going public in 2010. What's more, all things added up, the Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan has put the company into a $4.2 billion deficit, according to Wall Street Journal. Hopefully, this second part will prove both more profitable but also less tumultuous for the company.
Along with ongoing financial woes, as it goes into production of the Model 3, Tesla is facing growing scrutiny by government regulators following two recent crashes involving the company's semi-autonomous driving system, Autopilot (one of which resulted in a fatality).
The incidents are currently under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also investigating how Tesla disseminated the information about the Autopilot fatality to investors.
No matter how part two pans out for Tesla, let's hope it leads to part three: Profit.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
TopicsTeslaCarsElon Musk
(责任编辑：探索)
Richard Branson 'thought he was going to die' in bike accident
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' struggles to measure up to the original, say criticsThis game invites you to smash down China's great internet firewall
Unicorn frappucinos are dead. Long live dragon Frappuccinos.Here's what 'Game of Thrones' actors get up to between takesWhatsApp announces plans to share user data with Facebook
Big changes are coming to WhatsApp. 。On Thursday, WhatsApp announced in a blog post it will begin sha
...[详细]Dakota Access Pipeline protest movement now focuses on the money
It’s been a tough few months for opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). First Donald
...[详细]'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' struggles to measure up to the original, say critics
As a sequel to one of the best movies ever to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians o
...[详细]NASA scientists may have just solved the galactic mystery of how a huge wave of gas formed in a clus
...[详细]We asked linguists if Donald Trump speaks like that on purpose
Donald Trump may do a good "drunk uncle at Thanksgiving" impersonation at his rallies, but amid all
...[详细]Man ships $1 million family heirloom by express delivery, regrets it immediately
A man in southern China saw no issue sending a 6.8 million yuan ($985,000) antique bronze pot by exp
...[详细]A new streetwear brand is focused on making apparel with a purpose, helping at-risk youth not only r
...[详细]Unicorn Frappucino a 'nexus of awfulness' to Anthony Bourdain
Starbucks' Unicorn Frappucino might give good photo opp, but Anthony Bourdain thinks it's trash. 。The
...[详细]Two astronauts just installed a new parking spot on the International Space Station
UPDATE: Aug. 19, 2016, 2:04 p.m. EDT 。 Astronauts Kate Rubins and Jeff Williams are back in the Inter
...[详细]Mark Zuckerberg posts Oculus VR film profiling prison inmates changing their lives
Mark Zuckerberg made a big splash last week with Facebook's dive into social VR in the form of Faceb
...[详细]Mom discovers security cameras hacked, kids' bedroom livestreamed
Just when you thought it was over, here's the mermaid frappuccino