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Mentioning SpaceX and autonomous Teslas in the same breath makes me wonder if the Starlink satellite internet program is related to his plans for self-driving c
by faitswulff 7y ago
Mentioning SpaceX and autonomous Teslas in the same breath makes me wonder if the Starlink satellite internet program is related to his plans for self-driving cars.
- loceng 7y agoThere's synergy between everything he works on, it seems to be a natural extension to his flow of thinking - expanding further into the next biggest market. It's the ESSO (gas company) model: they needed a truck to transport fuel, so they designed a truck to manufacture, and sell it to others too, and so on.
- Already__Taken 7y agoCan I coin the phrase full-stack entrepreneur?
- wesammikhail 7y agoI like it. Sustained!
- danmaz74 7y agoThere is already "vertical integration".
- asdff 7y agoIs that what we are calling Rockefeller this century
- jacobush 7y agoDon't forget he wants to bore underground cities on Mars. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-use-boring-company-tunneling-technology-mars/ https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-use-boring-company-tunnelin...
- Tepix 7y agoThe boring company could provide the tech to build tunnels on Mars. And with the minimal atmosphere you'll have a Hyperloop. Hardly a coincidence.
- y0y 7y agoOh my god. I literally just now got the joke: the boring company. Because they bore tunnels.
- kowdermeister 7y agoGood morning :)
- y0y 7y agoApparently it took over a year for the coffee to kick in! I just always shrugged and thought it was a cutesy name for a company that did something boring like dig tunnels. I cannot believe that pun escaped me for so long. :)
- loceng 7y agoI wear the hat everyday - a good conversation starter. Some people guess it's an accounting company name.
- loceng 7y agoThey are aiming for 1223 kmph (760 mph) on Earth, I wonder how that differs with lower gravity.
- hef19898 7y agoPlease tell me that is not what Musk really thinks he's doing...
- fwip 7y agoIn the software world, we call that NIH syndrome.
- athenot 7y agoThe difference between NIH and vertical integration is in the result. When accounting for cost of effort, does it end up inferior to some third-party solution, or does it allow for a more efficient business process? Most of the time, you're right: one is better off going with a solution put together by some other group who made it their core expertise. But if you keep bumping into limits, and have the resources to throw at the problem, you can develop a compelling solution in-house. It's a bit like the tradeoff (for enterprises) between buying a turn-key solution and going with an opensource project. The latter is often more expensive (once you factor in the cost involved in figuring everything out) BUT will end up much more taylored to your needs—especially if your usage involves controbuting patches to the project.
- lazyjones 7y ago> self-driving cars. Why not just "cars"? Teslas with or without FSD capability already use Internet connections for OTA updates, maps, audio. Other manufacturers will likely follow sooner or later. That's a good outlook for any global Internet provider... I'd offer maps, audio services to other car makers in his position, wouldn't you?
- Tepix 7y agoStarlink will require a phased array antenna that is pizzabox-sized and also not cheap (in fact, making them cheap enough to make the business case worthwhile is a major challenge). Using 3G, LTE or 5G seems like the vastly cheaper and easier option.
- leesec 7y agoAnd if 3G, LTE, or 5G is not an option? (It isn't to most of the world.)
- TomMarius 7y agoCould you please go more in detail about what makes the antenna expensive? Why isn't the cost solved by metal 3d printing? EDIT: Sorry for asking a question I guess, what's so wrong I'm getting so many downvotes?
- 0xffff2 7y agoMetal additive manufacturing has never solved a cost problem AFAIK. The problem it solves is the manufacture of parts that have physical characteristics that are difficult to machine, or in the case of Inconel, materials that are simply difficult to machine period. Neither of those characteristics are going to be a problem for the Starlink antennas.
- TomMarius 7y ago> The problem it solves is the manufacture of parts that have physical characteristics that are difficult to machine I thought this is the case. Thank you for answering!
- _Microft 7y agoA small series (when producing other tooling would be too expensive; a single, bespoke part would be the extreme thereof) or ones that would be impossible to machine otherwise are candidates for additive manufacturing. Mass production is usually less suited for that.
- 7y ago
- mhermher 7y agoAll vaporware is theoretically related.
- ncallaway 7y agoI don't really see how the Starlink constellation is vaporware. They've launched 2 test satellites into orbit and are less than a week out from launching the first batch of 60 satellites into orbit. I think when you've reached the point of a 60-satellite production run, integrated on the pad and waiting for launch, you've at least passed vaporware.