Tesla is hiring engineers to develop self-driving vehicles

Shawn Knight

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tesla self driving cars elon musk

When you’re Elon Musk, co-founding PayPal, founding of SpaceX and creating an empire of electric-powered vehicles under the Tesla banner simply isn’t enough. The aspiring entrepreneur is now looking to hire someone to fill the role of advanced driver assistance systems controls engineer – or in layman’s terms, someone to build a self-driving car.

A job listing for the aforementioned position notes the engineer would be responsible for developing vehicle-level decision-making and lateral and longitudinal control strategies for Tesla’s effort to pioneer fully automated driving. In addition to developing systems for new cars, Tesla may want the engineer to retrofit such a system to current Model S sedans.

Tesla would need to make up a lot of lost ground in the automation sector. As Wired notes, the company is already behind the eight ball as the Model S lacks basic in-vehicle features found on other luxury rides like adaptive cruise control, automated lane changing and self-parking.

Self-driving vehicles in the true sense of the phrase are still at least three to five years away (according to Google, anyway). California, Florida and Nevada all allow auto manufacturers as well as Google to test self-driving vehicles on public roadways so long as a human is in the car. Audi, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo are all hard at work on self-driving solutions of their own.

Self-driving cars could certainly be a game changer, especially for fleet vehicles and to aid in the transport of the disabled.

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Not to take away from Elon's ambition, but adding more high-tech features to his cars isn't going to help them reach more people. Perhaps building a model that sells for less than a Chevy Volt would be a nice place to start.

I'd love to own an EV, but I can't afford an extra $20k on a car to save $150/month in gas. Right now the only people who own them are either buying them for the novelty or believe strongly enough that the emissions saved are worth all the extra money. Make an EV that actually saves people money on gas and they'll be back ordered for months.
 
Not to take away from Elon's ambition, but adding more high-tech features to his cars isn't going to help them reach more people. Perhaps building a model that sells for less than a Chevy Volt would be a nice place to start.

I'd love to own an EV, but I can't afford an extra $20k on a car to save $150/month in gas. Right now the only people who own them are either buying them for the novelty or believe strongly enough that the emissions saved are worth all the extra money. Make an EV that actually saves people money on gas and they'll be back ordered for months.

No no no, Tesla is no car for the poor man. So it is a good idea for them business wise to start developing self-driving technology to appease his target market which are people that could afford luxury cars. Face it, they already have enough orders and back orders to not care about the general populace. That market is covered by the Nissan Leaf. Hur.

But Tesla may be too far behind to catch up unless they really start throwing money into R & D or get some assistance.
 
Not to take away from Elon's ambition, but adding more high-tech features to his cars isn't going to help them reach more people. Perhaps building a model that sells for less than a Chevy Volt would be a nice place to start.

I'd love to own an EV, but I can't afford an extra $20k on a car to save $150/month in gas. Right now the only people who own them are either buying them for the novelty or believe strongly enough that the emissions saved are worth all the extra money. Make an EV that actually saves people money on gas and they'll be back ordered for months.
Well yeah, they need to expand their lineup to have more attractive options for everyone. But also, people will see self driving and think: "Wow, that is cool. I want one of these". If they can get self driving + a <$40K pricetag, their sales will skyrocket.
 
Haven't seen even one car on European roads. Maybe they should be hiring better sales people...
 
Self-driving cars? LOL. A company with too much time on their hands. Maybe these would be good to use in wars where you don't want to send soldiers on foot. For an everyday average american? I think not.
 
Well yeah, they need to expand their lineup to have more attractive options for everyone. But also, people will see self driving and think: "Wow, that is cool. I want one of these". If they can get self driving + a <$40K pricetag, their sales will skyrocket.


There's a story on Yahoo today about how GM will be giving Tesla some competition in the $60k EV market next year. They have a Cadillac model that will be electric. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/gm-takes-tesla-just-might-win-183920263.html

They mention how there will be many EVs coming out soon and Tesla will have plenty of competition. It sounds like there will be a lot of options in the upcoming years, so perhaps it's best for Tesla to stick to a few models and make sure they're the best possible. If they use resources on cheaper models they may get passed up on their established brands.

So as much as I'd like to see a Tesla model priced for people who don't have letters after their name, I can understand why they're sticking to only a couple models.
 
No no no, Tesla is no car for the poor man.
Thats the problem right there. Catering to upper class, when non-fossil fuel cars are needed across the board. There can be models for both upper and lower class, the same as there are for fossil fuel cars.
 
No no no, Tesla is no car for the poor man.
Thats the problem right there. Catering to upper class, when non-fossil fuel cars are needed across the board. There can be models for both upper and lower class, the same as there are for fossil fuel cars.

Tesla is a luxury-brand car manufacturer. We wouldn't ask Jaguar, Lexus or Infinity to make an everyday inexpensive car. Unfortunately, Tesla is still a somewhat of small company to break off and form an everyday division. So when you want an affordable Pure EV, you turn to the likes of Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Nissan or Smart. (to name a few) The point is that this market does exist.
 
There is no doubt self driving and electric vehicles are the future and will be available in budget models as well.
Now I wonder whats going to happen to Sebastian Vetttel's job at Red Bull in the future. :)
 
All F1 car is controlled from pitbox, Vettel or a Monkey no difference
 
If Tesla wanted to catch up fast all they have to do is give Google a call. I know they are looking for auto makers to team up with to get their tech out to the world.
 
There's a story on Yahoo today about how GM will be giving Tesla some competition in the $60k EV market next year. They have a Cadillac model that will be electric. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/gm-takes-tesla-just-might-win-183920263.html

They mention how there will be many EVs coming out soon and Tesla will have plenty of competition. It sounds like there will be a lot of options in the upcoming years, so perhaps it's best for Tesla to stick to a few models and make sure they're the best possible. If they use resources on cheaper models they may get passed up on their established brands.

So as much as I'd like to see a Tesla model priced for people who don't have letters after their name, I can understand why they're sticking to only a couple models.

The Caddy ELR looks sweet.
 
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