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Summon Your Tesla from Your Phone
- FullyFunctional 11y ago"Eventually, your Tesla will be able to drive anywhere across the country to meet you, charging itself along the way." In there lies perhaps a hint at a business opportunity/solution to the renter problem: Tesla charging garages and comes to pick you up when you are ready to go. We certainly live in a Sci-fi movie.
- kcorbitt 11y agoOr, a platform for people to rent out their own driveways for migrant EVs to pull in and (pay for a) charge during the day.
- wahsd 11y agoOr simply a car club where you simply summon a Tesla (or any other brand) vehicle for transportation. I really don't even want to own a car. I would rather just call a car that will look like any of the other cars in the uniform fleet that will always be clean and smelling nice that I then get into and it takes me to my destination and then goes off to pick up someone else. I think Uber and Lyft and the established industry will start gearing up for a war for your transportation needs. If the Auto industry is smart and has learned something (which I really still need to be convinced of), they will start/are working on such a shared use fleet model because one way or another, in the future no one is going to own their own car. it's simply far too inefficient if the vehicle can drive itself. Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?
- Domenic_S 11y agoSome of us need to own cars. Those with children (unless you want to move carseats every day), those with special needs, the elderly and differently-abled to whom familiarity is extremely important. Those that live far away from paved roads and need trucks to get to town. Farmers and DIY enthusiasts that haul stuff every week. Others want to own cars because they like to modify them, or restore old ones. Personally I'm with you -- if I could pay a monthly fee and be able to summon a Tesla 3x/week, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I just can't see how we'd be a big slice of the market, which will keep innovation slow.
- jeffwass 11y ago"Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?" Some reasons I want my own car (note - I don't currently own one but rent occasionally) : - My kids' car seats are already installed and ready to go - My phone is already connected to the sound system, and ready to take calls, with contacts and built-in SatNav already knowing my home and work. - The car has the Accessories I prefer. Eg, the sound system I want with Bluetooth connectivity, built-in DVD player, seating (leather vs cloth vs vinyl) with the right amount of space and recline movement. - I'm familiar with all controls. How to set all lighting, interval wipers, and know how to set the climate control, and quickly defog. A uniform fleet addresses the 4th point only. Maybe the 3rd point if my preferences happen to align with the fleet's administrators. As a user of ZipCar for quick trips and traditional car rentals for longer trips, these are general points of annoyance for me.
- mrgordon 11y agoI imagine you'd be able to pick from a few options as far as car type goes and then get a driverless car of that type. Once you knew which cars you like, then you could set it as a default option or something. Driverless cars would eliminate your concern about most of the controls anyway. It'd be easy enough to have a car seat option as Uber does: https://newsroom.uber.com/nyc/uberfamilyfor-parents-on-the-go/ https://newsroom.uber.com/nyc/uberfamilyfor-parents-on-the-g... Anyway, interesting to see your list of annoyances from real world usage of a car sharing service!
- secabeen 11y agoThe issue then becomes this: "uberFAMILY provides one forward-facing car seat for a child who is at least (a) 12 months old AND (b) 22 lbs. AND (c) 31 inches. A child is too big at 48 lbs. or 52 inches." What if you need two car seats, or if your kid is outside those parameters? You still need a seat. Likewise, adding these options can add significant delay to your getting a car. Most people are used to transportation being reliable. When you step out of your home or office, your car is there, ready to go. Having to wait an extra 15 minutes for the car to show up is not what most people want to do. I think car-sharing services will change things, quite a lot, but I don't think it will eliminate private car ownership. Most families will own one "family car" for road trips, etc, etc.
- pilom 11y ago"Why would you want a vehicle that sits idle 90% of the day?" I don't, but I do want access to a cheap to operate vehicle that I can load my kayaks on top of and my camping gear inside of and then go drive to a river as far away from everyone else as I can get (9 hour drives are not uncommon). This is why an electric car will not meet my needs for the forseeable future. <30 min charging stations need to be as common as gas stations for me to even think about it.
- sandworm101 11y agoI see crowds of confused teslas huddled together in the midwest after a town changes some road signs without first informing Google. Or owners booking flights to tiny airports after their tesla uses the last few electrons in its battery to call for help because some kid taped over one of its sensors.
- m0dc 11y agoSounds like an opportunity to sell some roadside assistance (either from Tesla directly, or from a third party that will pick up the slack otherwise).
- csmattryder 11y agoAnd I think this is where Musk's other venture, SolarCity, will likely come in to play. They'll have 'gas stations' across the US, where the Tesla charging tech will be installed for all EVs - though I'd assume Tesla to be a first-class citizen at these. Tesla always struck me as taking the 'Apple' route of logistics - controlling the supply chain from start to finish. I'd be surprised if they'd support third-party enterprise, but I doubt they'd attempt to undermine it.
- robszumski 11y agoThis network is already built out (and getting bigger) and is in fact powered with SolarCity panels, but I assume most power still comes from the grid. https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger https://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger
- doughj3 11y agoIs this the first car that will now drive itself, however small a distance, without anyone sitting in the driver's seat?
- e40 11y agoWhat's what the OP says.
- kornish 11y agoWell, via software. There have certainly been remote-controlled cars in the past.
- strange_quark 11y agoNo. I believe the new 7 series does the same thing.
- ck2 11y agoVery, very slowly. https://youtu.be/9yqDWVLx35I https://youtu.be/9yqDWVLx35I And note how of course the car cannot anticipate the lip of the garage needing slightly more momentum to overcome like a human driver would. But it is a start and I'd buy a Model X in a heartbeat if I won the powerball, lol
- stcredzero 11y agoAnd note how of course the car cannot anticipate the lip of the garage needing slightly more momentum to overcome like a human driver would. Terrain scanning, a software upgrade, and the instant torque available to electric motors could probably solve that.
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- jdbernard 11y agoI doubt the lip of the garage will be a permanent limitation. There is no reason the car can't learn to account for it.
- brianbreslin 11y agoNow we just need those automated snake arm chargers [1] or giant floor induction charging. [1] http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/211865-check-out-this-scary-robotic-arm-charger-for-the-tesla-model-s http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/211865-check-out-this-sca...
- tbabb 11y agoI wonder how city congestion will be affected by thousands of empty cars driving around a few years from now.
- ptio 11y agoA self-driving Uber-style limo/rideshare service might make sense and may result into less cars overall.
- artursapek 11y agoIt would certainly free up a lot of land which is currently being wasted on parking lots. I wonder if there will be a time when most people don't own a car, but instead they use a rideshare like that.
- r00fus 11y agoSelf-driving Ubers need cleaning and ensuring safety. Without cabbies to take care of that, I think that's a major reason owning a car still has value - it's a private space.
- gotothrowaway 11y agoI wonder how long before New York City walkers realize they can safely cross in front of Teslas without worrying about getting hit.
- joeyspn 11y agoReally cool, but it's worrying the increasing capabilities that bad actors will have at their disposal if they get access to your mobile device... Why not use a single purpose device instead of a phone for this?
- troycarlson 11y ago1. I don't want a single purpose device for every connected device I own. 2. I don't want my phone to be the single point of failure for every connected device I own. Both alternatives get worse as you connect more devices. Somebody will need to think of a high-level solution to this problem (most likely Apple) for more granular access control of connected devices from your phone.
- jtymes 11y agoI could see having multiple single-use devices becoming a problem though too, and it doesn't seem to solve the "access" problem; the single purpose device could have its own vulnerabilities (hardware or software), so it just moves the target from one device to another, while (admittedly) limiting its scope of impact. I'm also not sure the market would like it either, considering that the smartphone has wholly replaced many single-purpose devices (camera, GPS, calculator, etc.). The convenience factor may outweigh the security factor for many.
- stcredzero 11y agoJust the ability to have it pull out or back into tight parking spaces is worthy all by itself.
- mtgx 11y agoWait until someone else will summon your Tesla from their phone! How strong will the security be for this?
- FullyFunctional 11y agoThe iPhone and Android app has been out for many years. It currently relies on a password (1FA), but I haven't heard about it being exploited.
- aresant 11y ago"Summon" Great word - evokes both magic and privilege in one fell swoop. They just nail the language in their communications.
- untog 11y agoJust seems like a straightforward use of language to me. What other word is even applicable?
- thinkingkong 11y agoIts easy to dismiss things as obvious when theyre done well.
- untog 11y agoIt's also easy to praise things because you like the person saying them.
- rail2rail 11y ago"Car Getter"
- beamatronic 11y agoConsider some of the alternatives Request car Beg for car Plead for car edit:formatting
- Eldarrion 11y agoWhy would you request, beg or plead when it is your personal car that is coming to you? Call maybe... but summon kind of rolls off the tongue better... never mind when you consider how gaming is developing and how you'd run into that particular word in pretty much any game that involves magic and 'calling' things to you.
- dsp1234 11y agoTesla Recall Tesla Direct Tesla Mobilize Tesla Hail Tesla Greet Tesla Whistle And that's just looking at synonymns of summon and hail without doing any thinking
- sandworm101 11y agoHave any of these cars ever gotten stuck? Accidents are one thing, but has a car ever been able to traverse a great distance (10+km of public roads) with the 99.9999% reliability such a product would require? You call the car. It leaves the garage and starts heading to you. Then something comes up, something like a construction zone or other odd situation. Or perhaps the car breaks down. So the car is now stopped and alone. You're sitting by the road five miles away and the car is parked blocking traffic somewhere. Who comes to help? AAA? Wil it fight back if someone tries to tow it away? Or push it onto the shoulder to free up the lane? I doubt the general public would have much sympathy for the guy who's tesla is blocking an intersection because he didn't want to pay for parking and/or bother walking to the car himself. I cannot see drivers using this garage/parking trick very often. It's just too slow.
- squeaky-clean 11y agoReading the article, it sounds like the car isn't expected to travel more than 10 meters or so right now. >Using Summon, once you arrive home and exit Model S or Model X, you can prompt it to do the rest: open your garage door, enter your garage, park itself, and shut down. In the morning, you wake up, walk out the front door, and summon your car. It will open the garage door and come to greet you So from your garage to the street, or from a parking spot to out of, but adjacent to, the parking spot. Not from your home to your workplace.
- sandworm101 11y agoToday. But Tesla and Musk have every intention to expand the range. What we have now is just a gimmick, a trick that drivers will quickly bypass once the novelty wears off. people want/expect much more very soon.
- jonknee 11y agoAutonomous cars will be all over in a few years, I'm sure we'll survive an occasional breakdown or detour much like we do now.
- joshuaheard 11y agoWouldn't this be true of all self-driving cars eventually? I mean, no one has fully contemplated all of the possible applications of self-driving cars, this being one of them.
- Arnor 11y agoAccio Tesla
- OopsCriticality 11y agoCan anyone speak to the limitations for the tight spot the car will park into? Could there be a situation where the spot is tight enough that you can't get into the driver's seat?
- frogpelt 11y agoAnd are people really going to park their $130k car in a spot that tight?
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- jonathankoren 11y agoWhat I want is my car to go park it self on the street. And then come back and pick me up. Parking is the main reason I hate driving in San Francisco. Turning the car in to an Uber doesn't work for me. I don't want someone spilling something all over the seats.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- icc97 11y agoYou could just tell it to drive around the block a few times even if there isn't a parking space.
- jonathankoren 11y agoIn all honesty, I don't care what it does, as long as it's back relatively quickly when I need it.
- Balgair 11y agoDear God, I can see it now. The traffic becoming even more nightmarish as 280 is filled with cars aimlessly driving about for their masters. A child looks out into the now fume free parking lot that is the 101 merge and sees nothing but empty cars, bumper to bumper, for miles. She asks her mother, why are all the ghosts driving their cars today mummy? But her mother just left the girl, in lieu of a babysitter, in the car while she got her hair did.
- jonathankoren 11y agoYou and I have similar ideas about the future. ;)
- VikingCoder 11y agoI'm sure many of you also dreamed of being Michael Knight, summoning KITT with his watch. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxHbwy5CMAAk8eA.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxHbwy5CMAAk8eA.jpg If you're looking for a cool novel with self-driving vehicles featured prominently in it, I highly recommend "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez. It's a techno-thriller written by an actual software security expert, where a computer virus takes over the world. Everyone I've recommended it to has enjoyed it. (EDITED for clarity.)
- TY 11y ago"Daemon" and its sequel "Freedom TM" were awesome, totally support the recommendation. Small nitpick, the software that took over the world (a form on narrow AI, think scripting on steroids) was developed by a genius game developer (in my head looking totally like John Carmack) not a security expert.
- VikingCoder 11y agoSorry, I meant to say the author of the NOVEL is a security expert. And I dare say, the developer of the Daemon virus proved he was a security expert, too. SPOILERS: I ended up thinking of the Daemon not so much as an AI, but as an OS, with very many sub-programs hard-coded into it... But for the most part, I thought what made Daemon so smart, and the novel so compelling, was how much it relied on humans to help it achieve its goals and make decisions. The depiction of how people banded together to make the Burning Man, for instance. The OS allowed that, and exposed APIs that made that possible, but the decision to actually make it and the morality encoded into it were created by humans, after Sobel had died. I guess I end up seeing the Daemon not so much as an AI, but as a sufficiently well-designed Chinese Box, with very capable humans inside. (Some willingly, some blackmailed.)
- hyperbovine 11y agoWhat happens when this runs over somebody's dog? (Or worse...) Sure, they have safeguards in place, but systems fail. It's like they have never heard the term "liability" before.
- prawn 11y agoTheir entire job, every business hour, is dedicated to pushing the future of driverless cars. Do you seriously think they've not considered liability implications and safeguards, something you commented on in your spare time? Do you honestly think that they haven't considered these sorts of things in great depth?
- hyperbovine 11y agoThe fact that no startup has failed, ever, clearly illustrates your point that thinking about things in great depth, during every business hour, is a perfect safeguard against failure. For my part, I think the hype surrounding driverless cars has gotten way ahead of where the technology actually is. Also, there is a strong undercurrent of "laws which interfere with my product launch are stupid" (cf. Uber, AirBnb) suffusing the valley, and this move by Tesla definitely has an element of that.
- prawn 11y agoYou've missed my point. I'm pitting their vast team of dedicated professionals against you as an armchair pundit who doesn't think they've considered liability or accidents.
- gozur88 11y agoDrivers fail, too. Automated driving doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to be safer than people.
- adanto6840 11y agoThis is really cool, and is obviously intended to be just the beginning of something that could be really amazing. I suppose this is mostly just Tesla wanting to "beta" test the technology & collect some data to work with for future optimization... I just don't see the practicality in this specific functionality that they're rolling out -- sure, it's neat, and I'm sure many of us would love to show it off to our friends for the wow factor. But right now, you pull in the driveway, and tell your Tesla to park in the garage. It opens the garage & parks. Now what? You've got to follow the car into the garage & plug it in to your wall-attached charging cord. Same thing when you leave the next day -- you've got to unplug the cord before you summon it to the driveway ~20 feet away... Neat for sure, though. ;-)
- horsecaptin 11y agoThey're also working on an automatic charger snake-bot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI
- cjcole 11y agoHence the snakebot: https://my.teslamotors.com/sv_SE/forum/forums/snakebot-automatic-charging-cable-prototype https://my.teslamotors.com/sv_SE/forum/forums/snakebot-autom... 'Without the snakebot, you can still summon your car from garage but it has to be unattached, unplugged. With the snakebot, it will disconnect the charging cable automatically for you when you summon your car.'
- maratd 11y ago> I just don't see the practicality in this specific functionality that they're rolling out Not all of us live in mansions. My garage will barely fit the S or X. Not having to squeeze in there and get into the car in the driveway is a huge win.
- Killswitch 11y agoThe article states that it will soon be able to come pick you up from long distances and even stop and charge itself. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to do that stuff.
- jason_slack 11y agoam I the only one thinking about the old tv show "Knight Rider" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083437/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083437/
- usrusr 11y agoYou are not alone. Was about time that somebody invented a legitimate reason to wear a smartwatch.
- jason_slack 11y agoI feel like Elon is Amazing. He is taking our boyhood dream (at least mine) and making them a reality. How many of us wanted a Knight Rider car and to goto space and enjoyed racing our matchbox cars as fast as possible. Now, if he would just answer my e-mail on if he is planning a USS Enterprise style existence for us. I'd volunteer to empty the trash just to be on board.
- sremani 11y agoAs much as I love TSLA, they always time their announcements a bit cynically. Summon is great and awesome, but as a task itself is a very niche utility unless it can park itself lets say in malls or in public spaces. The real story is they want to be in News cycle esp. with Detroit Auto Show going on now and more and more mainstream Automakers getting the plugin religion. The bigger news is the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV, which is more of a game changer from impact perspective. edit: Also who is going to plugin the Car, if it self-parks?
- grecy 11y ago> unless it can park itself lets say in malls or in public spaces It can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic8T-kUbaRM&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic8T-kUbaRM&feature=youtu.be
- sremani 11y agoI was talking about Ability to use Summon in Malls and Public spaces. Perpendicular parking has been around esp. in Luxury vehicles for a while.
- woah 11y agoTesla is developing a snake like robot arm that creepily slithers into the charging port.
- TheBiv 11y ago>>edit: Also who is going to plugin the Car, if it self-parks? The snakebot will https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMM0lRfX6YI
- Someone1234 11y agoCan I ask why the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV is a game changer? PS - This is a legitimate question, I know nothing about the Pacifica.
- sremani 11y ago
- an4rchy 11y agoIf/When Tesla achieves a full self-driving car, I feel like the Uber's of the world would go bankrupt (perhaps a little drastic). Tesla can just as easily cut out the middleman and create the complete experience.
- jetskindo 11y agoWhen you miss a payment, the car will go back to motherbase.
- creativityhurts 11y agoAnd then you can just summon it by paying from your phone.
- Keyframe 11y agoI thought it was still a far-fetched concept when I saw this video 3 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt20UnkmkLI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt20UnkmkLI
- ohitsdom 11y agoThis use case seems very strange. Why would I want to get out in my driveway when it's more convenient to park it myself in my garage? I'm covered by any rain, and my front door is locked (whereas the door from my garage into my house is usually unlocked).
- mortehu 11y agoNot everyone lives in a building like this: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/1212/file-482133303-jpg/images/other_structures_garage.jpg http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/1212/file-482133303-jpg/images/o...
- prawn 11y agoIt's an early step towards more: Your car has dropped you at work and returned home to avoid CBD parking fees. You then summon it to pick you up and drive you home. You've arrived back from holiday and summon your car to the airport to pick you and the family up. You are parking your car(s) in the garage so tightly that you can no longer open the doors while inside. The car is parked a few blocks away and you want it to come and get you from the restaurant where you've just finished dining.
- bjt 11y ago> Your car has dropped you at work and returned home to avoid CBD parking fees. You then summon it to pick you up and drive you home. I sure hope this doesn't become the norm. That is double the number of trips clogging the roads.
- tassl 11y agoIf/when that happens, most likely there will be way less cars on the roads.
- prawn 11y agoOnly for people who insist on owning their own car and avoiding paid parking. For the majority, the car will drop you at work and re-join the pool of cars available for use by those going in the other direction or park in a cheaper place a suburb away, or be available for courier work or whatever else.
- startupfounder 11y agoThis is the Uber/Lyft/Taxi killer. Imagine paying $2-4 for a ride in a Tesla for what used to cost you $25-$30 in an Uber or cab. 97% of the cost of an Uber ride goes towards paying the driver, fuel and Uber fees, 3% (or less) goes towards the lease costs. A Tesla lease is only ~$0.73/hour ($~12,000/yr), including recharging.
- analyst74 11y agoYour math is a little off. it should be $1.37/hr, assuming 24 * 365 in a year. But then the comparison is a little off as well, since you wouldn't ever have a Uber standing by for you 24/7.
- Falling3 11y agoI've been using Car2Go often for the past few weeks. That's $0.41/minute for me to driving myself. Granted, it would be more efficient if I could request a car wherever I happen to be, but I'm not we'd see such a tremendous reduction in cost like you've outlined.
- TheBiv 11y agoAside from the Tesla lease being ~$1.37/hr (as analyst74 points out), you would never be paying that amount per hour because that assumes 100% utilization of the car and absolutely zero cost for the person/business who owns the Tesla (and also provides no margin for the owner). The cost would be no where near that per hour amount once you factor in everything needed for someone or some business owning a Tesla.
- gozur88 11y agoThat's today, though. If Musk can actually get the model 3 down to $35k it should be cheaper.
- nopzor 11y agoBut still, as the previous poster pointed out that rate is still zero overhead and zero profit. Plus, if you did use that rate and could somehow achieve 24hr utilization, you'd presumably be putting on ~1000 miles per day on the car. At 365,000 miles per year, that's going to millions of miles during your "lease". You'll probably go through quite a few batteries and quite a few cars during your "lease".