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Ever since Elon Musk presented the second part of his Master Plan - and even before that - the idea of Tesla facilitating the possibility of its clients sharing their autonomous cars to make an extra buck started raising a few questions.
Some of them were answered by Elon Musk since, but there was one that still required addressing. With Uber's example in mind, people wanted to know how will Tesla deal with the revenues people would make off this platform that is currently referred to as 'Tesla Network.'
If people had been paying attention to what Elon Musk wrote in his vision of Tesla's future, they would know he stated very clearly that this sharing thing would be a way for people to earn a few extra dollars. Or more than just a few if they allow their car to work extra hours. "Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it," read one of the bullets in the "Sharing" chapter.
Alright, but how much money is that? And is Tesla going to make a profit off of this as well? Let's not be naive - of course Tesla will keep something for itself, but as Elon Musk's recent statement would suggest, it would only be a small part to cover for its logistics expenses.
Talking to journalists after the disclosure of Tesla's third quarter financial results, Musk used the inevitable parallel with Uber: “This [Tesla Network] has been characterized as Tesla vs. Uber, but it’s not Tesla versus Uber, it’s the people versus Uber.” Right now, Uber is keeping somewhere in the region of 20 percent of the fare cost, with the rest going to the driver, so it will be interesting to see where Tesla positions itself.
So, Mr. Musk is going to free us from the tyranny of Uber. Well, at least as long as you're willing to buy one of his cars, with the cheapest going to cost $35,000 plus $8,000 for the full Autopilot module, and minus government incentives, where it applies. Oh, and you're going to have to slave for Uber a bit more until that same government passes a law on autonomous cars.
If people had been paying attention to what Elon Musk wrote in his vision of Tesla's future, they would know he stated very clearly that this sharing thing would be a way for people to earn a few extra dollars. Or more than just a few if they allow their car to work extra hours. "Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it," read one of the bullets in the "Sharing" chapter.
Alright, but how much money is that? And is Tesla going to make a profit off of this as well? Let's not be naive - of course Tesla will keep something for itself, but as Elon Musk's recent statement would suggest, it would only be a small part to cover for its logistics expenses.
Talking to journalists after the disclosure of Tesla's third quarter financial results, Musk used the inevitable parallel with Uber: “This [Tesla Network] has been characterized as Tesla vs. Uber, but it’s not Tesla versus Uber, it’s the people versus Uber.” Right now, Uber is keeping somewhere in the region of 20 percent of the fare cost, with the rest going to the driver, so it will be interesting to see where Tesla positions itself.
So, Mr. Musk is going to free us from the tyranny of Uber. Well, at least as long as you're willing to buy one of his cars, with the cheapest going to cost $35,000 plus $8,000 for the full Autopilot module, and minus government incentives, where it applies. Oh, and you're going to have to slave for Uber a bit more until that same government passes a law on autonomous cars.
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