Self-Driving Tesla Cars

Originally Posted by CelticFrost
I was in a meeting all morning working out custom tooling for parts for some new car Tesla is releasing in 2018. I asked the question today about this post but nothing was said, though this meeting with a sub contractor to make these parts.

That would fall in line with the Model 3 production time line. What kind of parts? I'm curious!

Originally Posted by Caddy
That would fall in line with the Model 3 production time line. What kind of parts? I'm curious!

11 different small aluminum parts, I have all the drawings for them but now sure where they go. A couple of them are bearing housings others just look like some sort of linkage or spacer.

I just get drawings for parts and have to come up with the tooling to machine them, what sort of cycle time per part and expected tool life for companies.

A lot of the time I don't know what or where the parts are going as the drawings could be from someone like Magna. Air craft parts and military and nuclear drawings I only get to see with who is in charge of making the parts.

That's interesting stuff. I remember reading with SpaceX they tried to get certain parts for their rockets but their supplier would gouge them and mark up the parts to an insane amount because they knew they could so, instead they just 3D printed their parts in house. Sounds like they don't have to do that with your company so must be a good relationship.

Originally Posted by Caddy
That's interesting stuff. I remember reading with SpaceX they tried to get certain parts for their rockets but their supplier would gouge them and mark up the parts to an insane amount because they knew they could so, instead they just 3D printed their parts in house. Sounds like they don't have to do that with your company so must be a good relationship.

No, no I work with all sorts of machine shops not just one(close to 100). So I get to see all sorts of things being made and help them speed up machining times with better tooling or longer tool life.

So from car parts to parts that go into our bodies anything that can be machined. I don't set the price of what the companies charge for the parts and most of the time they are making it for another company.

I look at it if we can increase production, increase tool life and make a better product we are keeping jobs here.

A lot of times I don't even look at the name on drawings, just there was a bunch of drawings today and a lot of back and forth on what we could do I happened to notice they were Tesla parts.

Originally Posted by Caddy
That's interesting stuff. I remember reading with SpaceX they tried to get certain parts for their rockets but their supplier would gouge them and mark up the parts to an insane amount because they knew they could so, instead they just 3D printed their parts in house. Sounds like they don't have to do that with your company so must be a good relationship.

I'm a huge fan of free market. Sadly the expression is "leading edge, bleeding edge." Thats why relationships are so important. If you can convince another company of your vision, half the battle is won.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz5O9dYlQKQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWD5XEWH3c

Originally Posted by CelticFrost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz5O9dYlQKQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzWD5XEWH3c

That's some seriously impressive hardware.

Yet another victory for the Self-Driving category:

http://gizmodo.com/hell-yes-obama-wa…r-r-1752965805

Time for a little topic necromancy…

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
I pointed out that it is at most 5-10 years… however it could be a lot faster than that… and what do you know it has not even been a year since that thread.. and now here they are!

Well, nearing five years later, and I think they've mostly been working on making what that original posts' video was doing work better.


They've come a long way and they've got a long way to go. The most recent update has it showing stoplights, stop signs, and road markings on the display but not doing anything with them. (Also showing garbage cans for whatever reason. Not trees, not fire hydrants… just garbage cans. Ooookay.)

Originally Posted by Zloth
Also showing garbage cans for whatever reason. Not trees, not fire hydrants… just garbage cans. Ooookay.

Maybe it's a test to see if it can differentiate garbage cans from other things so it can be used in garbage collection trucks to fully automate them.

It's as likely as anything I've been able to dream up.

Hit the garbage can instead of anything else if there is no other options?

Wow, has it been 5 years already, time goes fast , I guess a lot of effort has been put into electrification by the car makers, the next race would be for self-driving I suppose. That said there are self-driving taxis operating in places like Vegas and Singapore. It might have been a bit slower than I thought but let us see by 2025.