Choice Of New Hire At Tesla Hints At Model 3 Interior
Originally published on Gas2.
When the Tesla Model 3 was revealed on March 31, many were confused by the car’s lack of a traditional instrument cluster. Would drivers really have to take their eyes off the road and peer at the center touchscreen to learn how fast they were going or how much range they had left? Surely the bare bones dashboard seen at the unveiling just meant Tesla didn’t have time to complete the interior before the “on display” date, right?
Actually, what we saw on March 31 is pretty much what we will see when the car goes into production, Tesla representatives said. But then Elon Musk got into the act with this tweet.
@HBL_Cosmin Wait until you see the real steering controls and system for the 3. It feels like a spaceship.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2016
Hmnm….a car that feels like a spaceship? Whatever does that mean? Part of the answer may be found in the hiring by Tesla of Milan Kovac, the former principal engineer at Skully Systems. If you are not familiar with Skully, they are the motorcycle helmet maker that introduced a helmet with a seriously advanced heads up display recently. “The SKULLY AR-1 brings fighter pilot Heads-Up Display technology to motorcycle helmets,” the company proclaimed on its website. Watch this short video to get a better understanding of the Skully AR-1.
Wow! Is this what it’s going to be like to drive a Tesla Model 3? This technology is something you might expect in the new Porsche all electric Mission E 4 door sports car, but in a $35,000 car for the masses? That is just crazy talk!
Kovac’s LinkedIn profile says he is now working on Autopilot technology at Tesla. Up to this point, the Autopilot information has been displayed in the instrument cluster of all Tesla cars. But it seems a safe bet it will be contained within a head’s up display in the Model 3. If so, customers will be amazed.
Other car companies will be dazed and confused. Sergio Marchionne thinks Fiat could build a Model 3 competitor in 12 months? Seriously? Not only does he not have an answer for Tesla, he doesn’t even know what the question is. Elon always talks about making “compelling cars.” If this is what he has in store for the Model 3, the rest of the industry is going to find themselves struggling to keep up with it.
Source: BGR Photo credit: The Verge
Reprinted with permission.
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