How to View Elon Musk
After reading the article, I actually find Musk to be someone I respect, regardless of whether his packaged stories are true; he does think and act from the standpoint of a community with a shared future for mankind.
The article’s conclusion is roughly that the first launch cost $3 billion, but if the data obtained is valid, testing can be advanced step by step. Once you’re on the right path, you’ll eventually reach mass production, and mass production will spread out trial-and-error costs, quickly leading you to the final correct approach—driving down each launch cost to $1 million and making it possible to send humans to Mars for colonization. Reading through the piece, I feel this is simply the right way to solve the problem: as long as you keep going, you’ll make it.
On the other hand, since no one else is proactively cutting prices or has the incentive to do so, why is Tesla lowering prices? In blunt terms, the goal is to push prices down to 150,000 RMB this year, which in turn forces the world to accelerate the transition to new energy and complete the replacement of fossil fuels with electricity, achieving cleaner and relatively abundant energy for humanity.
It’s the same as his demand for open-source AI models—he wants AI to be public, not controlled.
From my personal perspective, when a person’s life outlook reaches a certain level and rises to focus on the destiny of the human community, their ideals become so pure that they’ve transcended humanity’s lower tastes. His company may not be worth investing in (it can still make money before dawn, but not necessarily after), because in the end he might just end up selling products at cost, doing something akin to charity. All his actions are about raising funds and pushing his own goals forward; he doesn’t care whether people say he’s charging an “intelligence tax.”
I was previously indifferent toward him, but now I find myself quite admiring this person.
Exploded 3 Minutes After First Launch, Yet Musk Sent Congratulations
I can’t remember whether NIO or Li Auto once said they were three years behind Tesla, and that the domestic industry overall is two to three years behind. Below is NIO’s advanced driver-assistance system experience. (Note: “advanced driver assistance” covers levels 1–3 of the five autonomous-driving levels; fully autonomous driving corresponds to levels 4–5. DiDi’s autonomous driving operates at level 4, meaning fully driverless in simple environments, while level 5 denotes fully driverless in complex and severe conditions.) Feel free to check out NIO’s experience.
The Middle-Class Crisis Facing Traditional Luxury Auto Giants
After reading the promotional hype, let’s look at the reality. NIO’s in-car experience is pretty poor. If you’re buying a car, understand that NIO’s advertised performance is only about 60 percent of the actual experience.
A 10,000-Word Long Article: An Analysis of NIO’s Products, Services, and Community
DiDi’s L4 autonomous driving is already in operation, and freight services have already generated 100 million RMB in revenue.
There Are No Shortcuts in Autonomous Driving—Can DiDi Make It Through?
In other words, levels 1–3 of autonomous driving are only transitional; levels 4 and 5 are the future solutions.