Farhad Manjoo:
None of this means that Tesla should abandon its goal of building the world’s best electric cars. By competing on service, style, and the dependability of its vehicles, it can sell a lot of cars while also letting rivals use its core technology. But to be a great tech company, it’s no longer enough to just make great products. You’ve also got to let others build stuff on top of your technology—you’ve got to build a platform. Elon Musk gets this, and that’s why his company isn’t emulating just one tech behemoth. Tesla is Apple on the outside, but it’s Google at its core.
I love the concept of using your would-be rivals to build infrastructure for you.
Speaking of Tesla, interesting to think that the cars almost will have to take off on the west coast of the U.S. at first thanks purely to the climate. The cold weather months of NYC could be an issue — at least for now.
280vc:
Don’t build high-speed rail from SF to LA - create an American Autobahn instead.
Here’s how it could work:
Build another three lanes of the I-5 from LA to Sacramento, completely separated from the current lanes but within the existing right-of-way. No need for tunnels or extensive bridges to…
Love this thought by Rob Coneybeer. Given that it looks like a high speed train connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco is all-but-dead (or won’t be done before I’m dead), an idea like this actually makes some sense. Which is exactly why it will never happen, sadly.
