Technology and politics don’t usually go together. But in his latest ad campaign titled Right Now, Andrew Yang pushed boundaries by using a Tesla Model X as a real-world example.
The Democratic presidential candidate said the reason Donald Trump won the US presidential elections in 2016 was because millions of people lost their jobs due to automation and the massive changes it brought upon the economy. A huge part of Trump’s campaign revolved around his promise to bring back jobs to the people.
“I’m the only candidate who built a non-profit that’s created thousands of jobs,” Yang said. “To defeat Trump, we need someone with the experience of tackling the economic challenges of our time.”
Yang demonstrated a couple of Tesla’s driver assistance features to illustrate his point. Toward the end of the 30-second ad, he is filmed sitting behind the Model X’s steering wheel while the car cruised on Autopilot down a highway. The video cut to a scene of the all-electric SUV parking itself, presumably in Yang’s driveway, using Summon.
Thank you @elonmusk for all that you do – you lead us all to think bigger about the future. 😀👍🚀 pic.twitter.com/wir3wm3PbR
— Andrew Yang🧢 (@AndrewYang) December 20, 2019
“And if you don’t think automation and the transforming economy is costing jobs, think again because it’s happening right now,” Yang said.
Essentially, Yang used Autopilot and Summon to show that automation is the future. He believes we need someone who understands the technology and the impact it has on the economy to lead the charge toward that kind of future—one where self-driving cars and AI-equipped robots are the norm. He also asserted that he is equipped with the expertise and experience to deal with these new kinds of challenges.
Yang is quickly becoming a favorite with the tech crowd. Among his high-profile supporters is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who publicly announced over Twitter that he was backing Yang. Yang, for his part, seems to share the same high regard.
He would our first openly goth president. I think this is very important.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2019
