When completed, it’ll occupy a valley surrounded by scrub brush-covered hills and boast the largest footprint of any building in the world, covering the size of about 107 football fields, according to Tesla.
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Although the Tesla autopilot system, which takes control of braking and steering in certain circumstances, is less sophisticated than what is envisioned for autonomous cars, its failure was linked to more complex systems of the future.
Musk’s broad new strategy for Tesla outlined last week also calls for combining with solar energy company SolarCity Corp (SCTY.O), ramping production of Tesla vehicles to 500,000 a year by 2018 from 80,000 vehicles projected for this year, and expanding Tesla’s vehicle product lineup to include pickup and semi trucks.
Those batteries will be used not only in electric cars, including the upcoming Model 3 and the existing Model S sedan and Model X SUV, but in Tesla’s range of home and enterprise batteries.
Outside, almost 1,000 workers are laying the groundwork for the factory’s expansion, digging trenches and erecting steel supports in the hot, dusty valley. The outspoken chief executive of the EV firm revealed the milestone during tours of Telsa’s first Gigafactory, a vast facility in Nevada where, eventually, the company will make its li-ion batteries. It followed what was already a rocky month for Tesla, which has been on the defensive about its driver-assist technology following a fatal Florida crash. A construction crew of about 1,000 was on site, working to meet Musk’s expedited targets. That’s the equivalent to the entire world’s production in 2014. He thinks that the ease in manufacturing and declining battery costs via the Gigafactory will help the automaker to produce the vehicle at the planned price points. If the Model 3 is delayed, for example, or customers’ deposits don’t turn into actual sales, Tesla will have extra batteries on its hands and no way to recoup its costs. However, Mobileye said the current contract for the EyeQ3 chip will not extend to the EyeQ4.
There are also competitors who could derail Tesla’s dreams. According to DIY self-driving expert George Hotz, the system that Mobileye was making is quite easy to reproduce and most probably Elon Musk and his team would start building their own version of the it soon.
But the question for Tesla now is whether the company can build the Model 3 fast enough.
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As Tesla advises, drivers should still be concentrating on the road ahead at all times as it’s a “driving assistant” – not fully autonomous.
