Model 3 Deliveries via "Summoning"

[Tezlah]

Just throwing out an interesting idea that crossed my mind:

Elon said in 2 years the summon feature should work anywhere connected by land. What if your Model 3 (for fun let's assume it will have this feature) could be delivered autonomously to your house? You could select 2 delivery options:

(1) summon delivery = free
(2) standard delivery = $$$

summon delivery: faster delivery, free, mileage on car
standard delivery: zero miles/wear put on your new baby, slower delivery, delivery charge

Realistic or pure fantasy?

 

[Johan]

Lawmakers are known for their speedy process. Especially true in a case where a car might want to pass through some 10-12 states berfore reaching your doorstep.

 

[tga]

Just let me summon it to Nevada, so I don't have to pay CA sales tax for a delivery to a non-resident. Then I'll drive to Fremont, take the tour, and road trip home.

 

[EvilNuff]

...
Realistic or pure fantasy?

Pure fantasy. Even if Elon is correct and they feel that within 2 years they are able to have fully autonomous vehicles there is zero chance that the legal system will be ready for this in that time frame.

 

[Twiglett]

Pure fantasy. Even if Elon is correct and they feel that within 2 years they are able to have fully autonomous vehicles there is zero chance that the legal system will be ready for this in that time frame.

Probably true - but it would be an awesome delivery model wouldn't it

 

[CHG-ON]

Total fantasy, of course. But how f---ing cool would that be?! And a bit scary.

 

[eisbock]

a car might want to pass through some 10-12 states berfore reaching your doorstep.

It would be a neat trick to see a self-driven car charge itself at a supercharger.

 

[tezzla]

Your "new" car would be delivered in Florida with 2500 miles on it also!

 

[Johan]

Your "new" car would be delivered in Florida with 2500 miles on it also!

Remember the "million drive drive train" though. One could also imagine Tesla passing on savings from automated delivery straight from the factory to the customer. In tune with the referral program.

 

[MiamiNole]

I'm going to summon my Model 3 to my office's parking lot and make it start spinning out and doing donuts while fireworks go off.

 

[ggies07]

This is a brilliant idea and blows another notch in the dealership model for future cases. Talk about technology getting around the system!

And actually, Elon has said that in the future they will have multiple factories across the nation which would be around the time this tech is working, so the car would not travel through 10 different states to get to you. This would help elevate the work load on the service department from deliveries and also help the company's quarterly numbers.

 

[vjason]

Lets just hope if this happens (manned) truck drivers don't start "accidently" running them off the road since they are "taking food of their table" by delivering themselves.

Seriously though, Mercedes is already testing autonomous trucking in Germany (Self-driving Mercedes robot-truck debuts on German autobahn (VIDEO) — RT News). Given what long haul truck driving pays (in the US at least, can't speak for those outside it), it is going to be ugly to watch that transition happen. Pretty sure that robot trucks won't be paying into the Teamster pension fund either, which will just make things worse.

That being said, I can't wait for self driving tech for myself. For others who make a living sitting behind a wheel, I hope you are considering how you will adapt when automation comes for you (as I constantly am working in the tech field).

 

[Tezlah]

I'm going to summon my Model 3 to my office's parking lot and make it start spinning out and doing donuts while fireworks go off.

haha! Put me down for this delivery method too

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Of course, there's always the possibility that Elon was exaggerating.

But yes, it would obviously be cool. But I'd bet they'd still batch them so that they can have them drive in a train and use less power on the way.

 

[Blazing Whisper]

Very cool fantasy. I imagine in the not-too-distant future this is how all Teslas will be delivered.

 

[Clomer]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is offered as a delivery option (maybe with a discount), but I don't think we'll ever see all Teslas delivered this way. The main reason is that the further from the factory you are, the more miles the car will accumulate just to get to you - if you are on the east coast, your new car will already have 2000+ miles on it. Not to mention it won't be all nice and clean as a freshly delivered new car should be.

I could imagine a compromise would be that they can ship it to the nearest service center, and when they are done with it you can summon it. But in my case, I'll probably elect to just make my way to the SC and drive it home myself.

One thing I like, though, is that as long as the car is running well enough for reliable autonomy, you could have it drive itself to the service center to deal with service issues. When they are done, they just send it back home.

 

[dhanson865]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is offered as a delivery option (maybe with a discount), but I don't think we'll ever see all Teslas delivered this way. The main reason is that the further from the factory you are, the more miles the car will accumulate just to get to you - if you are on the east coast, your new car will already have 2000+ miles on it. Not to mention it won't be all nice and clean as a freshly delivered new car should be.

I could imagine a compromise would be that they can ship it to the nearest service center, and when they are done with it you can summon it. But in my case, I'll probably elect to just make my way to the SC and drive it home myself.

One thing I like, though, is that as long as the car is running well enough for reliable autonomy, you could have it drive itself to the service center to deal with service issues. When they are done, they just send it back home.

Imagine this, there are tons of major cities that are served by discount airlines. Some of these are like $80 one way to Chicago, Houston, Vegas, etcetera.

You could fly one way to a location closer to the factory but not necessarily the whole way there (saving hundreds of dollars on the plane ticket by avoiding the connecting flights on a more complicated route or avoiding a longer direct flight).

Have the car auto deliver itself to the long term parking lot of the airport you fly to and its there waiting on you when you land. You drive it or ride it back home and get to enjoy the shake down cruise home.

You might do this as a vacation or might do this as a time saver or might do this as a money saver. Depending on your location, the factory, and airports any or all of these advantages are possible.

Now imagine down the road (not related to initial delivery) if you are on a vacation or otherwise on a road trip and need to get somewhere in a hurry and you fly there and have your car pick you up later. The ability to Ad hoc a new travel plan and have the car do the grunt work while you work or relax would be a huge game changer.

 

[Mad Hungarian]

Imagine this, there are tons of major cities that are served by discount airlines. Some of these are like $80 one way to Chicago, Houston, Vegas, etcetera.

You could fly one way to a location closer to the factory but not necessarily the whole way there (saving hundreds of dollars on the plane ticket by avoiding the connecting flights on a more complicated route or avoiding a longer direct flight).

Have the car auto deliver itself to the long term parking lot of the airport you fly to and its there waiting on you when you land. You drive it or ride it back home and get to enjoy the shake down cruise home.

You might do this as a vacation or might do this as a time saver or might do this as a money saver. Depending on your location, the factory, and airports any or all of these advantages are possible.

Now imagine down the road (not related to initial delivery) if you are on a vacation or otherwise on a road trip and need to get somewhere in a hurry and you fly there and have your car pick you up later. The ability to Ad hoc a new travel plan and have the car do the grunt work while you work or relax would be a huge game changer.

The mind starts to reel when you think of all the possibilities here. I was just getting jazzed over the idea that I could get out and walk into any downtown restaurant without the ritual 20 minutes of hunting for a parking spot. But your list really has me thinking now.
On the flip side though I do worry though that idiots might start doing goofy things to a driverless car for amusement, I'm picturing the Bro-dozer types playing M3-in-the-corner-pocket on the interstates when no one's around to report them. I hope I'm wrong...

 

[gregincal]

Look, when cars are able to drive fully autonomously a lot more is going to change than the delivery model. It will likely end private car ownership as we know it. There is a huge inherent waste (which means expense) in having huge numbers of cars all so that they can sit around uselessly taking up space almost all the time waiting for their owners to drive them.

But it's not going to happen in two years, regardless of what Elon might say.

 

[dhanson865]

On the flip side though I do worry though that idiots might start doing goofy things to a driverless car for amusement, I'm picturing the Bro-dozer types playing M3-in-the-corner-pocket on the interstates when no one's around to report them. I hope I'm wrong...

always connected 4G/LTE + around car vision cameras = lots of proof for the police to go arrest them. It'll only take a few arrests like that to make the news before people realize the car isn't defenseless.

There will be arms races of people wanting to attack a driverless car using a smoke screen or spray paint to block the cameras but if all the cars have cameras they'll be defended by the driver and driverless cars around them (too many cameras to block them all and the person might get caught anyway by a random DOT camera or random police car or random guys webcam on a balcony).

Ask the guys in England how easy it is to catch crooks with all the cameras they have. Fast forward a decade and the US will be like that but not because of the police but because our cell phones, dashcams and cars factory cameras will all be streaming video.

This URL is an example of the UK attitude Days of the 'bank job' are numbered, report suggests - BBC News

The number of robberies on British bank branches has dropped by 90% in the past decade

Sure it isn't all just the cameras but, cameras are way more common and crime rates drop when you can't expect to get away with it.