Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has officially unveiled his “masterplan” for the company’s future, with increased emphasis on solar power, autonomous car-sharing networks and electric trucks.
In a blog post published on the Tesla site Wednesday evening, Musk said that Tesla would be working more closely with his recently acquired SolarCity clean energy venture.
The post states: “Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together."
Solar-powered cars
Future Tesla vehicles will feature “stunning” solar roofs, Musk wrote, which can capture the energy of the sun’s rays and store it in battery packs for the ultimate in eco-friendly motoring.
In addition, the South African-born tech mogul unveiled that Tesla has already begun work on other terrestrial transport vehicles, namely electric-powered heavy trucks and buses.
Both are in the early stages of development and will be officially unveiled next year if everything goes according to plan, and the vehicles will be able to use a form of Tesla’s Autopilot system.
Autonomous ride-sharing services
Autopilot, which allows Tesla vehicles to autonomously drive themselves on certain stretches of road with no driver input, is part of Musk’s wider plan to introduce a fully driverless vehicle network.
This would enable the company to operate autonomous ride-sharing services to challenge the likes of Uber, while it could also revolutionise the haulage industry and generate owners money when they aren’t driving the car themselves.
The so-called “Master Plan, Part Deux” comes almost exactly a decade after Musk released the first part in a post on Tesla’s site just two weeks after its first car, the Roadster, debuted in 2006.
Critical point in Tesla's future
“The overarching purpose of Tesla Motors (and the reason I am funding the company) is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy, which I believe to be the primary, but not exclusive, sustainable solution,” he wrote then.
Musk’s latest post has come at a critical time for Tesla, with the acquisition of SolarCity placing significant stress on the company and heated debate regarding the safety of Autopilot.