The Tesla Model X is taking a 30-city tour of the United States to meet its fans. Not just any fans, though - these are the buyers who put down deposits ages ago in anticipation of driving home the company's first SUV.
The 18 pages of Google's recent US patent for an “autonomous delivery platform” aren't as boring or as deeply technical as most patents—if you're the kind of person who likes to read patents. If you're not that kind of person, here's the highlights of what the as-yet-to-be-built driverless delivery vehicle could do.
Last year, Tesla Version 7.0 was sent over the air to Tesla Model S computers as they were sleeping snug in their garages. When the cars woke up, they had Autopilot features that assisted their humans with highway driving, particularly lane keeping, lane changing, and active cruise control features. Version 7.0 had the ability to scan for an open parking space and parallel park on command.
It's been a few days since the big Musk-vs-Angry-Tesla-Customer flap livened up our Twitter feeds, and having spent that time mulling the brouhaha and reading—and rereading—the two Medium posts from venture capitalist Stewart Alsop about how Elon Musk personally canceled his Model X order over a bit of online snark, I have just one question: Is there something I'm missing?
The year 2016 is starting to feel a bit like 1916, given the number of new, niche car companies that are popping up. Tesla did it, so why can't everyone? Companies like Arcimoto, Elio, Jannarelly, and Faraday Future are all inching ever closer to production models built outside the traditional automotive manufacturing system. Now we can add Dubuc Motors to that list.