Research Group Places Tesla At the Bottom Of The Heap For Autonomous Driving Development

According to a recently published study by Navigant research group, Tesla is currently dead last in the self-driving race, placing beside second-to-last Apple on the list of 19 companies. At the top of Navigant’s study were GM and Google’s Waymo, companies whose initiatives to develop and release autonomous vehicles to the public are ranked as being close to perfect.

Navigant’s analysis points the blame to Tesla and its eventual split with Mobileye, which was involved in the development and release of the first generation Autopilot system. Since its separation from the Israeli-based tech company, Tesla has spent significant effort in developing its own in-house self-driving suite – Autopilot 2. So far, however, the Elon Musk-led firm has encountered challenge after challenge, with improvements to EAP and new features trickling down in a rather slow stream.

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MDarringer - 1/19/2018 6:20:24 PM

+6 Boost

Tesla is a lot of hype and blustering that when all is said and done does not pan out.

mre30 - 1/19/2018 8:28:11 PM

+6 Boost

In addition to being a likely business dust-up, once the dust settles and the forensic accountants/HBS Case Study people have at it, Tesla's engineering is going to be shown to be nothing special.

Here's another nonsensical Tesla tidbit of information...

My friend who has the good fortune to have a thriving worldwide business, a wonderful family, and who has four homes around the country, has owned three Tesla's and until recently has ha two - a Model S and a Model X. He likes them.

However, one reason that he thought he liked them was because he could theoretically leave them "plugged" in at one of his homes while he was not there expecting that they would be "good to go" once he returned in a month.

It turns out that when you charge your Tesla battery via the fancy high charge plug-in device that lights up blue, that battery bank being charged only/primarily powers the propulsion system and some other things, but that there is a separate "car battery" that operates things like the the door locks, the proximity sensors (used to start the car) and some other things and which IS NOT connected to the propulsion battery. That "car battery" only charges when the vehicle is operating, not when it is sitting. So that second battery will go dead just as fast as that on a BMW 750i sitting unsold on a cold and snowy BMW lot.

So, you get a situation where your Tesla has a fully charged battery bank but it is not operational because the ancillary battery is dead.

My friend has now ditched his Model X (car he kept in Florida) because it was frequently "dead" and he replaced it with a Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Hybrid. Besides getting $20,000 off sticker (Porsche is dealing on ALL their hybrids to get the fuel economy credits) the Porsche is wired differently such that if it is "plugged in" - everything gets charged, ALL THE TIME!

When Tesla implodes, Porsche will be there to pick up the pieces.

MDarringer - 1/20/2018 10:25:53 AM

+1 Boost

Doesn't he know he can get martinis at the local bar without going to mars?

vdiv - 1/20/2018 12:10:55 PM

0 Boost

This is nonsense. What matters is not cars in a lab, it is cars people can drive and directly benefit from these features.

skytop - 1/21/2018 9:05:05 AM

+6 Boost

The period of Elon Musk's smoke and mirror Tesla marketing is about over.

Tesla, who has yet to provide a dime of profits, exists due to liberal corruption at Federal Government level through huge subsidies and credits. Tesla is about to be CRUSHED by superior completion being released from all major vehicle manufactures domestic, European and Asian.

Remember, EV's are not fueled by electricity but are actually coal and oil powered. Liberal lies and duplicity refuse to acknowledge this inconvenient truth.