Martin Eberhard does not necessarily approve of the way Elon Musk chose to evolve Tesla around autonomous driving. The co-founder of Tesla spoke about this to Insider.
Martin Eberhard is one of the two historical co-founders of Tesla, the one who also chose the name. He was at the origin of the electric car project, before Elon Musk got involved by joining the board of directors, then decided to take power. Martin Eberhard was ousted from Tesla Motors in 2007, when the first electric Roadster had not yet left the workshop. He then continued his career with other brands, to help launch their electric vehicles.
The relationship between the two men has long been quite stormy. A few days before Tesla’s Investor Day, it is in an Insider interview of February 18, 2023 that we find new comments from Martin Eberhard. The historical co-founder of Tesla does not hesitate to criticize quite openly the choices of Elon Musk on his obsession with autonomous driving.
“It is a mistake to consider a car as a software platform”
Martin Eberhard really isn’t a big fan of self-driving. Admittedly, he finds the technology particularly useful when it comes to integrating more efficient driving aids for the safety of cars and their occupants. However, he disagrees with the way Elon Musk has made the subject central when talking about Tesla.
To put it into context, Martin Eberhard explains: “ Keep in mind that all that autonomous, autopilot FSD bullshit — none of that existed when I was there. “Before adding:” We were still busy trying to get the car to work and never thought about that at all. It came later. This requires a much, much larger budget than we had at the time. »
Last year, Elon Musk said the difference between a Tesla that ” worth a lot of money and a Tesla that’s worth next to nothing lies in autonomous driving. This is what prompts Martin Eberhard to react in this way. With Elon Musk, Tesla has become as much a software company as it is a hardware one. However, Martin Eberhard does not share Elon Musk’s enthusiasm for ” that Autopilot bullshit “. He remains convinced that cars should be driven: “ I wish people would think about making cars that people can drive. »
With all the built-in technology and over-the-air (OTA) updates, the automobile is increasingly being compared to smartphones on wheels. “ I think it’s a mistake to think of a car as a software platform, you know, like an iPhone or whatever. It is not the same Martin Eberhard told Insider.
A car is not an iPhone, a bug can kill you
Martin Eberhard takes the opportunity to point out the limits of this technology: “ I have an iPhone and every time I get a software update there are bugs. These bugs mean, for example, that my newsfeed app sometimes crashes. That’s okay, because it’s just an annoyance on the iPhone. But if that kind of bug appears in a car’s software that controls, say, my brakes or the steering, it can kill you. »
Indeed, during updates of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, there is always a share of unforeseen bugs, which encourage the company to make corrections, sent very quickly to the 400,000 vehicles concerned. The system will be improved on several elements, which risks encouraging dangerous or inappropriate behavior, which had sometimes already been corrected a long time ago.
Certain statements by Martin Eberhard will certainly please the main detractor of Tesla’s autonomous driving, Daniel O’Dowd. The two men agree on the subject: I think the technology is far too immature to put on the road said Martin Eberhard. “ I mean, it’s my cautious nature, but I would have had a hard time releasing software as buggy as this on the roads. »
However, if Martin Eberhard seems quite hostile to the methods of Elon Musk, he remains quite faithful to the brand he founded. He drives daily with a Tesla Roadster and his wife with a Tesla Model S.
Finally, his advice to traditional manufacturers and young innovative companies is quite interesting: “ Don’t try to compete directly with Tesla. ” He adds : ” There are different types of cars for different market segments. For him, it’s different from the world of Silicon Valley, where a leading company can grab everything. Even if for the moment Tesla largely dominates the game, he judges that other brands can still dig their hole, including on autonomous driving.
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