Musk Makes Secret Visit To Mobileye Headquaters

Elon Musk is always three steps ahead of the competition. When he unveiled the Tesla Model 3 to the public last Thursday, it created quite a stir. But Elon says we ain’t seen nothing yet. That was just Phase 1 of the reveal. Phase 2 will be when the really spectacular stuff gets announced.

Photo credit: CleanTechnica

Barely a week later, Tesla has received more than 325,000 reservations for the car. That represents almost $15 billion worth of new business for a car that won’t even go into production for another 18 months — at least. What has Musk not told us that could top that?  Our compatriots at CleanTechnicahave come across a story that may offer a clue.

According to Globes, an Israeli business news website, Elon hopped a private jet to visit the headquarters of Mobileye in Jerusalem in March, 2 weeks before the launch of the Model 3. Mobileye works closely with Tesla on its Autopilot autonomous driving systems. It has two Model S sedans it uses to test its new systems. Sources tell Globes that Mobileye has come up with groundbreaking new technology and that Musk flew to Israel to see a demonstration in person.

The new Mobileye technology is said to permit machine learning while a car is in motion. Advanced sensors allow it to follow a road even if there are no shoulders, curbs, or sidewalks that mark its boundaries. It can detect different road surfaces, navigate when there are no road markings, and recognize more that 1,000 road signs and pavement markings in common usage throughout the world.

The Model 3 has no dashboard. All it has is a 15″ touchscreen mounted horizontally in the middle of the interior. When someone complained to Musk on Twitter about the shape of the steering wheel, that’s when Musk tweeted back about the wonders that will be revealed in Phase 2.

What’s going on? A good guess is that the Model 3 will contain the hardware needed to make it the first mass produced car with full self-driving capability. The sources who spoke with Globes said the hardware will be dormant at first. It can be switched on later, when safety regulators catch up with Tesla and its advanced technology.

That’s exactly what Tesla did with the Model S. It started installing the Autopilot hardware in October of 2014. The over the air firmware update that activated the system did not take place until almost a year later.

What is there about the steering wheel in the Model 3 that gets Musk excited? Will this be the first car built with no steering wheel at all? Will it have some sort of joy stick instead? The details won’t be revealed until the start of production for the Model 3 gets nearer.

But putting everything we know now together — including reports that Mobileye has come up with ground breaking new autonomous driving technology — it seems safe to say Tesla is planning something spectacular that will rock the automotive world once again.

Musk says someday self driving cars will be as common as automatic elevators. It’s quite possible that someday Tesla automobiles will be as common as elevators, too.