Road Rules: How Tesla Plans to Change The Way We Buy Cars
I am in a car that is driving itself on the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway—one of the busiest highways in the country—and I am freaking the hell out.
"Hold the steering wheel, but still let it do its own thing," Michael, a product specialist for the electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors, gently cautions me, trying to snap me out of the wide-eyed stupor brought on by watching the wheel of my Model S steer around a curve as if guided by invisible hands.
As we pass through Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood and the waterfront complex of Industry City, my anxiety eases enough to start asking Michael about how the autopilot feature works (the car’s sensors analyze traffic patterns and read lane markers), how frequently Tesla beams software upgrades to its vehicles (as often as once a month), and the car’s top speed (155 mph, 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds). "Just by taking a good look at you, I feel like you’re already comfortable with driving a Model S," he remarks halfway through our 35-minute ride. Yes, that’s what every car salesman is supposed to say, but he’s right. If I could afford the black, all-electric Model S P90D—which drives like butter, but costs $108,000—I could see myself following Michael into the company’s Red Hook, Brooklyn, showroom to buy it, even though until today I’d never been in an electric vehicle, much less one that could drive itself.
fastcompany.com
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