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Part of the paradox of Elon Musk is that while he's very protective of his privacy in some regards, he can also be very open about some aims and ambitions.
This week has offered up a perfect case in point, as Musk posted on his social media platform, X, to point users towards a master plan that he wrote for Tesla back in 2016.
Musk offered the link without much comment, but it's a really interesting document, basically a blog post that has been publicly accessible ever since it was published.
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I wrote this 8 years ago https://t.co/r9GdXpUDe2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 6, 2024
Sometimes the public forgets that it has access to thccccccccccccccccccccings like this, though, even if it acts as a useful way to understand Tesla's aims this decade.
The so-called master plan was Tesla's second from Musk, written 10 years after its first, and set out four ambitious new goals for the company to accomplish in its next 10 years.
These were to "Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage", as well as aiming to "Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments" and "Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning", and finally to "Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it".
As Musk would doubtless point out, you can indeed now purchase solar roofing from Tesla in the US and integrate it with a Tesla power storage battery to create a nice chunk of self-sustaining power for your home, so the first goal is seemingly realised.
While the second aim might not be completely there, with segments like compact cars still unaddressed, Tesla launched the Cybertruck this year to enter into the off-road and all-terrain market, so it's clearly still making moves where that second goal, to conquer "all major segments" is concerned.
Next, when it comes to self-driving, Tesla has also made huge strides, taking its self-driving tech from something secretive that Musk could boast about to a publicly available tool (in the US, again) that is being tested on a huge scale. Whether it could be called "10X safer than manual" is less definitive, though, so there's still room for improvement.
It's the final point that is most interesting and most remote right now, though - Musk was proposing a system that would let Tesla owners basically rent out their cars when not in use, for short or longer trips depending on availability.
This would make the worldwide Tesla fleet basically a sort of car club scheme by default, and potentially lower the long-term cost of ownership, but the system hasn't manifested in any very meaningful way.
Then again, Musk just promised to unveil what he calls "robotaxis" later this year, which could be related, so it's fairly clear that Tesla still has advanced plans where its future are concerned.
