Uber CEO Would Buy 500,000 Self-Driving Teslas By 2020
By Paulo Acoba
Imagine. Half a million self-driving Teslas.
When Americas top venture capitalists speak, people listen. According to Steve Jurteson, Uber CEO and investor, during a Q&A session at the Top 10 Tech Trends dinner hosted by the Churchill Club earlier this week (July. 7, 2015) he preemptively announced that his friend and CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick would buy over 500,000 self-driving Teslas if Tesla had them available by 2020. Five years is a long time as far as how much technology can change and a self-driving Tesla is all to possible in less than five years, adding credence to Steve Jurteson’s friendly (but serious) challenge.
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It’s no secret that Tesla has been improving and refining its self-driving technology on its cars. Tesla recently announced that they would be releasing a “self-steering” function with their latest OTA (over the air) update which basically allows the owner of a Tesla Model S to set active cruise control with the Tesla being able to steer and react to traffic around it. Currently. this technology isn’t enabled on city streets or neighborhoods and can only be used on highways and private property. According to Musk, they are taking the opportunity to make Teslas become”… more and more sensor-aware. We are kind of waking up the car, making it more aware over time.”
Steve Jurvetson. This was one of the first guys who invested in Hotmail when internet communication was becoming “a thing. An obvious smart move in hindsight. Jurvetson also has stake in Tradex ( a popular java based B2B e-commerce exchange,) SpaceX, Skype, Meebo, SolarCity and Baidu (the Google of China.) In short, this guy can clearly see ahead of the times and invest wisely.
Juvertson further reiterated this autonomous car technology isn’t just going to happen by chance, it’s altogether inevitable in the near future with Ford’s CEO Mark Field’s in agreement with the whole “in five years” idea. There may come a time when human drivers may become obsolete because autonomous driving is much safer and efficient. Petrol heads will be relegated to racetracks and private driving arenas much like horses are today. This isn’t the death of driving, but a reinvention of transportation. Let’s get excited world!