My Tesla Story

A friend who purchased a Tesla few years ago joked that had he bought Tesla stocks with the same money, he would be owning a few more Teslas! Anyways, I succumbed to the temptation and bought myself a Tesla. Not because I am in to performance cars but because Tesla is an Engineer’s dream. Here is why:

Innovate or Perish is the new Mantra: The Autopilot (for autonomous driving) is one reason why people buy a Tesla. I think it will be at least a few years before full self driving (FSD) will be a reality. However, what they have achieved so far is still remarkable. My friend was giving me a demo of the autopilot on the highway. He acknowledged a change in lane when he saw that the left lane was clear. However another driver came zooming in from the left, ignored our left lane indicator and came in our blind spot. The Tesla was 20% in to the left lane. The autopilot figured out the change in reality and veered the Tesla back in the original lane thereby avoiding an accident. It corrected for a human error on part of the car driver on the left. While the Summon Car feature is good to impress the neighbors, Tesla has indeed improved passenger safety and comfort. Using Innovation, Tesla is giving other car manufacturers a run for their money. Literally if you follow the stock market.

It’s the SW: For anyone who is involved in SW deployment on Electro-Mechanical systems, they know that SW upgrades are not trivial. There are too many variables and it is easy to miss a particular combination of possible HW-SW states. Well. Tesla does SW upgrades on the WiFi and they are flawless. Plus every SW upgrade improves the performance. Tesla has definitely set a benchmark for a world class standard in SW development and testing. 

What about the HW: I used to drive the Prius Hybrid before buying the Tesla. As you must have seen in lots of movies, Prius is often subjected to fun because of its poor pick-up. Even I had my share of some self deprecating humor. Tesla changed the narrative about 'sluggish' Electric cars with its 'Ludicrous mode' that delivers 0 to 60 MPH in 2.5 seconds! At the heart of the Tesla's HW are its Autopilot FSD computer, Sensors/Cameras, IPMSynRM Electric Motor (making use of Magnetic and Reluctance action instead of using the traditional Induction Motor) and the Battery Technology NCA (based on nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxide chemistry).

Caution: Always remain in complete control of the car. Even when the Autopilot is engaged. I can think of a few dozen scenarios where the Autopilot could get confused in a given situation whereas it would be obvious for the human brain and eyes. Elon Musk's team maybe smart. But human evolution has had a head start by millions of years!