ot long after Tesla started to deliver the Model S, Franz von Holzhausen, the chief designer of the EV company began thinking about what an autonomous
vehicle might look like.
Franz von Holzhausen is an American vehicle designer who has been in charge of the design of Tesla cars since 2008. He was the lead of the design teams for the Tesla Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Semi, the second generation of the Tesla Roadster, and the Cybertruck.
The Chief designer told this week for TechCrunch in an interview that he has been designing the Tesla’s Robotaxi in his head for years – “I just think that it felt inevitable we would get there,”.
And, as it turns out, not more than a decade ago, Tesla announced that they would be revealing a Robotaxi at an event on the 10th of October in Los Angeles. The event did not reveal all of their plans or whether or not they would reveal the concept version or a more advanced prototype of the electric vehicle.
The Robotaxi is a courageous promise that Elon Musk made years ago when he said that they would create an autonomous car that would function properly without requiring human supervision. It seems like a dream come true, living in a world where we have acces to cars that do not need human interaction and can drive on their own.
Regarding the events that will happen today, Von Holzhausen did not say much, only that it will be an “interesting” and “fun” moment to participate in. He also said “In a strange sort of way, we’ve been working our way — in a very public way — to what an autonomous future will look like,” and “So you see the big interface that we have, the way it’s configurable and upgradable, and we bring a variety of entertainment pieces to it, and some humor as well. And I think that will continue to evolve.”
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The Chief Designer of the electric vehicles also talked about how Tesla wished from the start to create a space where they could share technology through design. “The self-presenting door handle in the early days — that was like a handshake with technology,” Von Halzhausen said “It was getting us comfortable with the vehicle becoming part of our daily lives.”
He also went further and made an outstanding statement where he talked about his kids not having to worry about getting a driver’s license. “I desperately don’t want my kids to have to worry about getting a driver’s license, or driving at all,”. When you think about it, it seems like technology has finally started to look similar to the one in sci-fi movies.
“There was one way of getting around forever and everybody was accustomed to it — you had to do it,” and that. “Nobody talks about the bad side of that situation,”, going further and talking about how we are tolerating the situation we are accustomed to.
He also mentioned in the interview that “I think the opportunity for a radical change to something that maybe seems scary, and will release a little bit of control, is the challenge. But it’s also the opportunity,” he said. “And that opportunity for me as a designer I think is really great because now we have the ability to shape how people use their time, what their lives can be like, how they can get to places where they wouldn’t have gone before, and what their experiences can be like.”
So, stay tuned and see where the Robotaxi will take us!
By
Daria Dondea
•
October 10, 2024 11:45 AM
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