SpaceX founder Elon Musk addresses the media during a press conference announcing new developments ... [+]
David Hasselhoff would be proud.
In a Twitter post over the weekend, Elon Musk hinted at a new feature in upcoming Tesla electric cars.
Captioning a video with a suggestion that you can have a Tesla talk to people, the post reminded me of the Knight Rider television show, especially in how the robotic voice speaks and how it doesn’t really sound like it is intended as an AI assistant ala Amazon Alexa. Here’s the post with the video clip so you can judge for yourself:
In that 80s show, the talking car named KITT (which stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand) would sometimes give Hasselhoff’s character advice and instructions.
These days, Amazon Alexa can run on a few Ford vehicles using your phone. With Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you can access the Siri bot and the Google Assistant.
I think Musk has something else in mind, though.
As opposed to an AI bot that tells you the weather, the Tesla talking car might be more like a digital passenger. In the video, it seems to be talking to people on the sidewalk asking them to climb into the car.
I like the idea. In a future talking car, the bot might be much more aware of the surroundings, other cars, people around the vehicle, and the vehicle infrastructure. While Alexa and Siri talk to you, the driver, I could see a Tesla bot talking to other cars and communicating with the world around you. Imagine pulling up to Burger King and a Tesla bot talks to the drive-through attendant, ordering your favorite meal so you don’t even need to roll down the window.
At a bank, a Tesla bot might conduct all of the transactions for you. In a crowded area, it might ask people to move out of the way as you navigate through a parking lot. (This could also be incredibly annoying to everyone involved as well.)
The other possibility is that Musk was just joking around, although what we perceive as jokes can sometimes lead to entire companies. I don’t think it’s a joke.
Also, Tesla is not the type of company that follows the lead of others, which is reminiscent of Apple. They don’t want to offer a competitor to Siri or Alexa; my guess is that the Tesla bot is more like an all-knowing automaton without flesh and bone but with a personality and a purpose — more like the artificial humans that Samsung announced last week at CES with the Neon bots.
A Tesla bot would know all about the car, important diagnostic info, settings on the car, and all of the typical options and features — which means it would mimic what we are starting to see in cars from BMW and Mercedes-Benz as of late.
Yet, it would go further. The Tesla bot would know where you are at all times and communicate with stoplights, road signs, and other bots. It might comment on your wardrobe and make suggestions. It could chime in and add to the conversation in the car. Maybe it will tell you to stop speeding.
It also might be annoying to bystanders, but it might also be the coolest new technology that Tesla has ever offered.
Sign me up, because I’m really curious to see how it all pans out.
