Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the company is interested in making its own HVAC system for homes. "It's on the future product list," says Elon.
Tesla is known for having remarkable air quality inside their electric vehicles. They went as far as integrating large HEPA filters into most of their models, which Tesla calls Bioweapon Defense Mode.
The HEPA filter removes 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm). The filter is adapted into an efficient HVAC system to prevent decreasing the vehicle's range.
Last year, when Tesla announced a software update to make the Model S HVAC system quieter, Elon was asked about Tesla making a home HVAC system, to which he replied:
"Oh man, home HVAC that is super energy efficient, quiet & purifies the air would be great. We developed it for the car, but it can be scaled up for home use."
Residential HVAC is a product that Elon has been talking about for years and really wants Tesla to manufacture in the future. More recently Elon said that it is on Tesla’s list of future products.
It’s on the future product list. Especially important in places like Austin, which has next-level amounts of pollen in the air.
Back in 2020, Elon Musk spoke about his desire to create a "super efficient" HVAC system for homes.
HVAC and AI seem to be two areas that interest Elon. Last year Elon said that Tesla would look into adding an AI-based HVAC system into their vehicles (and now possibly into homes).
The system could take environmental readings into account such as the air quality in the area, whether the car is in stop-and-go traffic, and automatically control car features that would improve the air quality inside the car.
The car could automatically enable air circulation or even turn on Bioweapon Defense Mode.
Tesla is working on many other projects right now and the HVAC is not in an advanced stage of development yet. It is unknown when Tesla will officially unveil an HVAC system but this news confirms that the HVAC system is in fact on a "list of products" and can be expected in the distant future.
I’m dying to do super efficient, quiet home HVAC with HEPA & water distillation. It’s weird, but I really want to do it.
Tesla recently hit the news for purchasing approximately $2M in LiDAR sensors from Luminar, one of Tesla’s long-term suppliers. You’ve probably seen photos of Tesla’s Semi and various Tesla models, including the Model 3 and Model Y sporting LIDAR equipment on the roof. These cars drive around with manufacturer plates scanning streets and highways.
However, many people confuse Tesla’s purpose in purchasing LiDAR equipment with using it for FSD versus testing. So, let’s look at what LiDAR is, and why Tesla uses it on its Fleet Validation Vehicles.
What is LiDAR?
LiDAR stands for Light Detecting and Ranging – essentially using lasers to measure distances. A laser pulse is sent out, and the time it takes to return is measured – providing extremely accurate distance measurements.
Some companies working on self-driving vehicles, including Waymo and BYD, use LiDAR as part of their self-driving suites, but Tesla is one of the few stand-outs that does not. Even Rimac’s “Verne” Robotaxi – which uses self-driving technology from Mobileye, also uses LiDAR.
While LiDAR can produce extremely accurate and high-quality 3D environments, it comes with its downsides as well. Not only is LiDAR costly and requires large gear strapped to a vehicle, but it also can not be used in bad weather and can have interference issues if there are other strong light sources present.
Why Does Tesla Use LiDAR?
A LiDAR rig mounted on a Tesla Semi for testing FSD.
Not a Tesla App
At Autonomy Day in 2019, Elon Musk mentioned that LiDAR isn’t the solution for self-driving cars – it's just a crutch. Thus, Tesla hasn’t used LiDAR for any production self-driving software.
Instead, Tesla uses it exactly how it's described – they use it to gather ground-truth data. This data is then used to feed Tesla’s Full Self Driving system – which helps validate its vision-only system's accuracy. LiDAR provides very accurate measurements to help ensure that FSD’s perception of space is accurate – and is only used by Tesla to ensure that its AI technology which is the brains of FSD is capable of accurately interpreting depth from just visual data.
While sources other than Bloomberg haven't confirmed this report, Bloomberg has a positive track record of reporting on financial decisions. We’ll be sure to update the article if there is confirmation on X from Elon Musk or another Tesla senior official.
Tesla’s stock has dropped nearly 8.5% over the day, ending back-to-back gains over the last two weeks. It closed yesterday at $ 241 after hitting a peak of $270 earlier in the day before the news broke.
Why the Delay?
The delay – of approximately two months – has been communicated internally, but not publicly announced just yet. Bloomberg goes on to mention that the design team was told to rework certain elements of the Cybercab, necessitating the delay.
If Bloomberg’s report is correct, it sounds like Tesla’s unveil event will be largely focused on showing off the vehicle, instead of demoing how it will work. Of course, it could still be both, but given past events, Tesla has always shown off the vehicle years before it hits production.
Rimac recently showed off their version of robotaxi vehicle named Verne, and surprisingly, it could almost pass for Tesla’s own robotaxi. A lot of design cues in Rimac’s version are elements we have already seen or expect to see in Tesla’s autonomous taxi.
A recent Tesla patent revealed that Tesla is incorporating a sanitation system into their robotaxi that will be responsible for analyzing and cleaning the vehicle’s interior, although the delay itself is likely tied more to a physical feature rather than software.
Another element we know almost nothing about is how Tesla plans to charge these robotic taxis. Will they rely on the existing charge port and adapt a solution like the robotic charging arm (video below) we saw almost eight years ago, or will wireless charging or a dock finally become realized?
While the delay for Tesla’s event appears to be related to the vehicle’s design itself and not further development of FSD, Tesla is wasting no time in getting FSD working for the upcoming vehicle. Model 3 vehicles have already been spotted with camera locations that resemble a robotaxi.
Is the Delay Accurate?
We expect that this delay might actually be true – Elon Musk usually takes to X within hours of such news breaking if it's false to refute it and hasn’t done so yet.
Tesla has delayed several of their events in the past, and a delay of a couple of months seems plausible. We should hear from Musk himself soon on whether this report is accurate.
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