News
New Elon Musk book tells tale of how Tesla Cybertruck started as round and aluminum
The Tesla Cybertruck was a lot of things before it became what it is now, and before CEO Elon Musk and Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen landed on a cyberpunk, stainless steel truck with sharp lines and edges, it was initially designed with curves and an aluminum exterior.
According to an excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s new book titled, “Elon Musk,” the Cybertruck was originally designed as something that was relatively “normal” in the grand scheme of things. Von Holzhausen and Musk would collaborate in a design studio behind SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, Los Angeles, every Friday.
It was a serene time of the week as Tesla had fended off near bankruptcy, three vehicle launches, and, around this time, what Musk called “production hell,” referring to the Model 3 launch.
In early 2017, Musk and Von Holzhausen had started kicking around ideas for the Cybertruck, and in over two years, they’d unveil their design to the world.
In the past, we’ve seen images of how massively wide the scope was for the Cybertruck. It was not always the design that we have come to know as the Cybertruck:
An excerpt from the book confirms that:
“Beginning in early 2017, they began kicking around ideas for a Tesla pickup truck. Von Holzhausen started with traditional designs, using a Chevrolet Silverado as a model. One was placed in the middle of the studio, and they studied its proportions and components. Musk said he wanted something more exciting, perhaps even surprising. So they looked at historical vehicles with a cool vibe, most notably the El Camino, a retro-futuristic coupé made by Chevrolet in the 1960s. Von Holzhausen designed a pickup truck with a similar vibe, but as they walked around the model they agreed that it felt too soft. “It was too curved,” von Holzhausen says. “It didn’t have the authority of a pickup truck.”
Eventually, Musk and Franz made a trip to the Petersen Automotive Museum, where they realized something that would end up being a key point of their presentation in November 2019: pickup trucks are essentially all the same.
“We realized that pickup trucks basically haven’t changed in their form or their manufacturing process in eighty years,” Von Holzhausen said.
They then started kicking around ideas on how they could make this pickup unique. The first thing was what material it could be made of, and initially, aluminum was what was ideal. But titanium was also in the conversation due to its durability.
Musk came in and announced one day after weeks of deliberation on potential materials, “We are going to do this whole thing in stainless steel.”
Not everyone in the Tesla Design Studio was on board, either. Engineers and others heard rumblings of severe pushback against the project, and they were hoping Musk would withdraw his idea for the Cybertruck and go with something more traditional.
He told those in the Design Studio, “We’re not doing a traditional boring truck. We can always do that later. I want to build something that’s cool. Like, don’t resist me.”
In November 2019, Musk and Franz unveiled the Cybertruck.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils futuristic Cybertruck in Los Angeles, Nov. 21, 2019 (Photo: Teslarati)
And now, nearly four years later, the Cybertruck is nearing its first deliveries, and Tesla plans to hand over the first units by the end of the year.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk reiterates Tesla Optimus’ most sci-fi potential yet
Musk shared his comments in a series of posts on social media platform X.
Elon Musk recently reiterated one of the most ambitious forecasts for Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, stating it could become the first real-world example of a Von Neumann machine. He also noted once more that Optimus would be Tesla’s biggest product.
Musk shared his comments in a series of posts on social media platform X.
Optimus as a von Neumann machine
In response to a post on X that pondered on sci-fi timelines becoming real, Musk wrote that “Optimus will be the first Von Neumann machine, capable of building civilization by itself on any viable planet.” In a separate post, Musk wrote that Optimus will be Tesla’s “biggest product ever,” a phrase he has used in the past to describe the humanoid robot’s importance to the electric vehicle maker.
A Von Neumann machine is a class of theoretical self-replicating systems originally proposed in the mid-20th century by the mathematician John von Neumann. In his concept, von Neumann described machines that could travel to other worlds, use local materials to create copies of themselves, and carry out large-scale tasks without outside intervention.
Elon Musk’s broader plans
Considering Musk’s comments, it appears that Optimus would eventually be capable of performing complex work autonomously in environments beyond Earth. If Optimus could achieve such a feat, it could very well unlock humanity’s capability to explore locations beyond Earth. The idea of space exploration becomes more than feasible.
Elon Musk has discussed space-based AI compute, large-scale robotic production, and the role of SpaceX’s Starship in transporting hardware and materials to other planets. While Musk did not detail how Optimus would fit with SpaceX’s exploration activities, his Von Neumann machine comments suggest he is looking at Tesla’s robotics as part of a potential interplanetary ecosystem.
News
Tesla China January wholesale sales rise 9% year-on-year
Tesla reported January wholesale sales of 69,129 China-made vehicles, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association.
Tesla China reported January wholesale sales of 69,129 Giga Shanghai-made vehicles, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The figure includes both domestic sales and exports from Gigafactory Shanghai.
The total represented a 9.32% increase from January last year but a 28.86% decline from December’s 97,171 units.
China EV market trends
The CPCA estimated that China’s passenger new energy vehicle wholesale volume reached about 900,000 units in January, up 1% year-on-year but down 42% from December. Demand has been pressured by the start-of-year slow season, a 5% additional purchase tax cost, and uncertainty around the transition of vehicle trade-in subsidies, as noted in a report from CNEV Post.
Market leader BYD sold 210,051 NEVs in January, down 30.11% year-on-year and 50.04% month-on-month, as per data released on February 1. Tesla China’s year-over-year growth then is quite interesting, as the company’s vehicles seem to be selling very well despite headwinds in the market.
Tesla China’s strategies
To counter weaker seasonal demand, Tesla China launched a low-interest financing program on January 6, offering up to seven-year terms on select produced vehicles. The move marked the first time an automaker offered financing of that length in the Chinese market.
Several rivals, including Xiaomi, Li Auto, XPeng, and NIO, later introduced similar incentives. Tesla China then further increased promotions on January 26 by reinstating insurance subsidies for the Model 3 sedan. The CPCA is expected to release Tesla’s China retail sales and export breakdown later this month.
News
Tesla’s Apple CarPlay ambitions are not dead, they’re still in the works
For what it’s worth, as a Tesla owner, I don’t particularly see the need for CarPlay, as I have found the in-car system that the company has developed to be superior. However, many people are in love with CarPlay simply because, when it’s in a car that is capable, it is really great.
Tesla’s Apple CarPlay ambitions appeared to be dead in the water after a large amount of speculation late last year that the company would add the user interface seemed to cool down after several weeks of reports.
However, it appears that CarPlay might make its way to Tesla vehicles after all, as a recent report seems to indicate that it is still being worked on by software teams for the company.
The real question is whether it is truly needed or if it is just a want by so many owners that Tesla is listening and deciding to proceed with its development.
Back in November, Bloomberg reported that Tesla was in the process of testing Apple CarPlay within its vehicles, which was a major development considering the company had resisted adopting UIs outside of its own for many years.
Nearly one-third of car buyers considered the lack of CarPlay as a deal-breaker when buying their cars, a study from McKinsey & Co. outlined. This could be a driving decision in Tesla’s inability to abandon the development of CarPlay in its vehicles, especially as it lost a major advantage that appealed to consumers last year: the $7,500 EV tax credit.
Tesla owners propose interesting theory about Apple CarPlay and EV tax credit
Although we saw little to no movement on it since the November speculation, Tesla is now reportedly in the process of still developing the user interface. Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg writer with a weekly newsletter, stated that CarPlay is “still in the works” at Tesla and that more concrete information will be available “soon” regarding its development.
While Tesla already has a very capable and widely accepted user interface, CarPlay would still be an advantage, considering many people have used it in their vehicles for years. Just like smartphones, many people get comfortable with an operating system or style and are resistant to using a new one. This could be a big reason for Tesla attempting to get it in their own cars.
Tesla gets updated “Apple CarPlay” hack that can work on new models
For what it’s worth, as a Tesla owner, I don’t particularly see the need for CarPlay, as I have found the in-car system that the company has developed to be superior. However, many people are in love with CarPlay simply because, when it’s in a car that is capable, it is really great.
It holds one distinct advantage over Tesla’s UI in my opinion, and that’s the ability to read and respond to text messages, which is something that is available within a Tesla, but is not as user-friendly.
With that being said, I would still give CarPlay a shot in my Tesla. I didn’t particularly enjoy it in my Bronco Sport, but that was because Ford’s software was a bit laggy with it. If it were as smooth as Tesla’s UI, which I think it would be, it could be a really great addition to the vehicle.
Elon Musk reiterates Tesla Optimus’ most sci-fi potential yet
Tesla China January wholesale sales rise 9% year-on-year
