This is the text for the slide deck Tesla Motors: At the Intersection of Innovation and Integration. It looks at Tesla's business model and analyzes how we can apply their thoughts across our practices.
Grateful 7 speech thanking everyone that has helped.pdf
Â
Text for Tesla Motors: At the Intersection of Innovation and Integration
1. TeslaMotors â At the Intersectionof Innovation and Integration
Slide 1:Title
Welcome, thank you for delaying youâreyour trek over to the OneDirection
backstagepre-party to talk a little more Tesla.
BTW, I took our teenage daughter to a One Direction concert last
September â trustme, youâreall in the right spot.
I am Greg Papay, cattledog on the forums, an architect by day, and by night
a Teslaholic.
Today Iâll highlighting the extraordinary, ever-evolving success story of
Tesla Motors, and distilling it as a story of innovation and integration,
as a way for us all to look at our professions and ask whatwecan learn
fromTeslaâs approach.
2. Slide 2:Teslaâs Mission
Teslaâs Mission: Do accelerate the adoption of sustainabletransport.
Why does this matter to me?
I learned of Tesla about 5 years ago, and immediately saw a resonancewith
what the car and company was striving for and what we strivefor in our
work at our architecture firm. About4 years ago weordered our firstTesla,
we got it nearly 3 years ago, got our second one nearly 2 years ago, and
sold off our last gas car 1 year ago.
Somewherein the last 5 years weordered our Model X, and sortof
expected to have it by now, howeverâŠ
As I learned more about Tesla the company, and certainly after driving the
cars, I came to a realization they were doing something of exceptional
vision and importance.
Itmade me wonder how.
I wanted to really dive in and analyzethat question.
So why does this matter to you, our TMC Connect friends?
I think Teslaâs story is an ideal one to examine for anyonewho is in business
today. Their highly integrated and innovative approach is essentially unique
among auto manufacturers, who areshackled by a tradition-bound
industry.
So weâd like each of you to think of your business or practiceâs approach to
projects and look with us at a model from outsideyour industry so we can
startto challenge ourselves and startto change our approach.
3. Slide 3:Tesla Motors âWhy a Relevant Model
The automotive industry has operated essentially the sameway for the
past century. Itwas and is an industry ripe for disruption. Does this sound
vaguely familiar?
Tesla doesnâtjustmake cool cars â itâs transforming nearly every aspectof
the modern mobility experience â for the car, company and most
importantly its customers. Itâs a company thatsold just33,000 cars last
year out of nearly 100 million worldwide. 3/100 of 1%. So with similar odds,
any of us can have a similar impact. The question is - are we willing to think
boldly and take similar risks?
Slide 4:History
Firstsome History â Tesla is named after Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the
AC induction motor in 1888, around which the car is designed.
Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers in Los Angeles
and Silicon Valley who wanted to provethat electric cars could be better
than gasoline-powered cars.
They revealed their first car, the roadster, in 2006 and produced it in 2008.
They IPOâd in 2010, thesame year they acquired a 5Msf factory in
Fremont, CA, purchased fromToyota and GM after they mothballed it years
earlier.
The Model S, Teslaâs first ground up design, began production in mid-2012.
Later that year it was named Motor Trendâs Car of the Year, which would
be followed shortly thereafter by being ranked as the bestcar ever tested
by Consumer Reports.
They introduced the worldâs firstdualmotor, 4WD car last year and will
reveal the Model X, their version of an SUV, in about 3 hours.
(Click)
All this led to the reported sighting of Teslaman, a mythical creaturewith,
as you can read, many desirable attributes.
4. Slide 5:Secret Master Plan
Tesla began with a Secret Master Plan, which they published in a blog post
in 2006. Itessentially outlined a path froman expensive sports car (the
Roadster), to a mid-priced sedan and SUV (Models S and X), to an
affordablemass-consumer car. Weâreabouthalf way.
Slide 6:Founder â Elon Musk
To understand Tesla, you mustunderstand Elon Musk. Buy Ashleeâs book,
itâs an illuminating portrait.
Musk grew up reading science fiction and dreaming of a world different
that the one in which we all lived. This has influenced him through his 43
years.
He went to university in Canada and the US, ending up on the west coast.
He started a small internet company that he sold and parlayed into the
company that would eventually become PayPal, which threw traditional
payment systems on their heads.
Challenging convention is a common theme for Elon Musk.
5. Slide 7:History â SpaceX
PayPalled to SpaceX.
To breach another industry set in its ways, SpaceX needed a model that was
profoundly differentand dramatically cheaper.
To do that, you had to stop throwing away 99% of each rocket launch. Tesla
is the first spacecompany thatâs within inches making its firststage
reusable, and spacetravel dramatically cheaper. Industry being re-
imagined.
Slide 8:Solar City
Musk is also the Chairman of Solar City â Solar City was the firstand largest
company to offer ways to for consumers to integrate solar into their
residences via a power purchaseagreement. This has democratized the
solar industry and hastened the adoption of renewable energy for
hundreds of thousands, soon to be millions. Teslaâs new stationery storage
battery product, PowerWalland PowerPack, willaugment this.
Slide 9:Hyperloop
Finally, a couple years ago Musk proposed the Hyperloop, a pneumatic
transportation pod systemthat would be significantly cheaper and radically
faster than high-speed rail projects. Again, a fundamental rethinking of how
we approach intercity travel.
Slide 10:Teslaâs First Principles
Which leads us back to Tesla and their mission.
Accelerate the adoption of sustainabletransport.
Make a car and company unlike any other.
How could they get there?
6. Slide 11:Innovation+ Integration
Teslaâs survival, let alone its transformationalapproach to mobility,
required ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and that trait that defines the
American spirit, innovation.
Italso required team-building, collaboration, and an integrated approach to
all aspects of their business.
This is whatmakes Teslaâs story so compelling â itâs not an isolated stroke
of genius.
(Click Through)
Tesla pulled off this achievement through innovation and integration of
approach + process, performance+design, manufacturing, and sales +
service.
Slide 12:Innovation: Approach+ Process
When Teslaâs founders speak about the early years at Tesla, when they
were looking to firstprinciples for engineering and design, they say that
innovation was the enabler.
But innovation in what way? For the sake of being new â no. For the
purposeof being better â yes.
Slide 13:Reasonfrom First Principles
At Tesla they would say the search for something better, for innovations, is
spawned by an authentic mode of problem-solving â Reasoning fromFirst
Principles.
Reasoning from FirstPrinciples is a physics way of looking at the
worldâŠwhatthat really means is that you boil things down to the most
fundamental truthsâŠand then reason up fromthereâŠthat takes a lot more
mental energyâŠ
(Click)
So the this is the first of 20 questions - Do we do this often enough in our
search for solutions to our problemsor issues, or even when thinking about
our businesses and firms?
7. Slide 14:Vertically IntegratedTeam
Itâs hard to imagine Tesla starting at any other time, and in any other place,
than the pastdecade and in California. Not impossible, but really hard.
Tesla really required a technology discontinuity and expertise fromoutside
the auto industry to come to full fruition. Automobile design, engineering
and manufacturing needed a fresh approach and somefresh science.
They have been innovative because, dramatically morethan any current
automaker, but very much like many successfultechnology companies,
they have vertically integrated their design, engineering, fabrication and
operations, placing mostall in-houseand often under one roof.
They had to be innovative and integrated. They had to be nimble to
survive. Thereâs a reason there havebeen no new US car companies in over
90 years. Tesla had to create distinction, separation, meaningfulness.
(Click)
How many of us ask thatof ourselves and our firm?
Slide 15:Top LeadershipInvolvedinDesign + Engineering
They were able to do achieve this because of the hands-on leadership of
their core founders â a team of engineers and designers that assembled
around a shared mission.
Elon Musk
JB Straubel
Franz Von Holzhuasen
And back a few years, GeorgeBlankenship
Each integral to the design process, each deeply enmeshed in it.
(Click)
Are we, as leadersof our practices, willing to stay in trenchesto constantly
make our firmsand projectsbetter? Unrelentingly?
8. Slide 16:Culture of Innovation
All this supports, really compels and fuels Teslaâs culture of innovation.
Tesla recently opened up all of its patents to competitors. Took copies of
them all off the wall in their lobby and replaced them with this quote from
a cult video game fromthe 1990s.
Why?
They explained it by saying that technology leadership is not defined by the
number of patents on your wall, but â âby the ability of a company to
attract and motivate the worldâs mosttalented engineers.â
(Click)
Do we require innovation aspartof our design process? How are we
attracting top talent to our firms?
Slide 17:MissionMotivates Employees +Customers
These core leaders set the tone for another critical aspect to Teslaâs success
â their mission motivates their employees and customers.
You canât fakethe enthusiasmcaptured in this photo. Or at this conference.
Right?
When we received our Model S at the end of 2012, I wrotethe following
blog postabout peopleâs experiences when they had taken a test driveor
ride in our car:
âŠin a span of about60 seconds: (approach the car, itâsbeautiful, the
handlesextend, THE HANDLES EXTEND, get in, stunning, the touch screen
stares back at them, the panoramic roof slidesopen, footon break,
speedometer flips over, you rollaway silently, first straightaway - punch it
reliving memoriesof first rollercoaster ride, fat-assgrinsall over faces)âŠ
...And then they think, NO WAY, as in NO WAY hasthis freaking out-of-
nowhere companykicked sand in the face of 100 yearsof auto-making. NO
9. WAY have they done it, NO WAYis it American, NOWAY is it 7,000 laptop
batteries in the rightkool-aid. NO WAY did I just laugh my head off driving
in a loop around your neighborhood!
âŠItâs our Apollo Program.
People are proud of it. Of their courage to try it. Of the audacity to pull it
off. People we donâteven know are proud of usfor buying it. They feel like
theyâve boughtit by seeing it or riding in it. No one is lukewarm aboutit. Is
this how Columbusfelt?
Slide 18:MissionMotivates Employees +Customers
That captured an initial rush of excitement that came with purchasing the
car. But it goes deeper.
I have first-hand experience of senseof mission when I received a private e-
mail froma Tesla engineer. Hereâs part of whathe wroteto me:
I read the Tesla forumsoften and with greatintensity. In particular, your
brilliant and inspiring piece on Tesla and the Apollo program really hithome
for me.
The choice to come to Tesla Motorsfor me wasdeeply personaland a very
high risk to the comfortable lifestyle of a typicalautomotive engineer like
myself in Detroit. Like many automotive "Detroitexpats" at Tesla, I
hungered for something more than whatthe Detroitmachine wasputting
out. I was never really able to put it in wordsfor people who asked why I
made the leap, and then I read your Apollo postfrom a few monthsback. As
I read each line, the smile on my face grew wider and wider, and then tears
actually formed in my eyes. I wasreally moved.
I immediately sent out an email with a link to your postto my most trusted
friends, family and Tesla colleagueswith the simple title âThis is why I work
at Teslaâ. The response I got was incredible. People finally gotit. They got
why this company, itsproductsand its people are so different, they gotwhy
I made the change.
10. Working atTesla (as you might imagine) is far harder than anything I have
ever done in my life. When I was interviewing for this position, I read a
portion of the job description which said: âYou must have a passion for
engineering electric vehicles. Without passion, you would find whatwe are
doing too difficult. There are easier jobs.
Your wordsstill reverberate in my mind and often provide the extra energy I
need to get through a particularly difficultday.
(Click)
Do our clients feel this passionate aboutwhatwe do for them? Do the
people in our firms feel this way? Shouldnâtthey?
Slide 19:Approach+ Process: Summary
1. Reason fromfirstprinciples.
2. Champion a vertically integrated team
3. Entrench leadership in design and engineering
4. Create a culture of innovation
5. Articulate a mission that motivates
Slide 20:Innovation+ Integration:Performance +Design
Now letâs talk about the car, Model S (I was hoping to speak about Model X,
too, but I mostly know it as a sculptureof black masking tape at the
moment).
The carâs performance, too, starts with, whatelse, innovation and
integration.
For Tesla, it started with the critical decision to go all-in on all-electric â a
fundamentally new approach to power and the power train.
Teslaâs commitment in the Model S to an electric powertrain, hyper
efficient packaging and performanceengineering make for incredible
design opportunity.
11. Slide 21:Performance â LithiumIon, Thermally ManagedBattery Module
Itall starts with the batteries.
Letâs go back two decades. In 1995, auto battery technology had stagnated,
with the prevailing technology being lead-acid batteries. These were
defined by these highly enviable attributes:
. shortlifespan
. heavy in relation to volume
. shortrange
. but commonplace
Tesla looked at the landscapeand decided they needed a fresh approach to
auto batteries. But also that they couldnâtgo it alone, they couldnâtinvent a
unique battery with limited application â it was simply too expensive.
So Tesla to piggy-backed onto the economy of scale of the consumer
electronics industry to usethe guts of a lithium ion laptop battery that was
already being produced in the billions.
Itwas the simple rethinking of an existing technology, put to new use. This
little module, the guts of the system, drovethe whole thing. Systems-driven
design.
(Click)
Canâtwe think more this way? Whatcan we adaptin our practices?
Slide 22:Performance â Thermally ManagedBattery Module
So, they accomplished this with consumer electronics cells, 7,104 of them,
assembled into 16 modules. Thermally managed and fire protected with
intumescent goo.
12. Slide 23:Performance â Skateboardand Low CoG
And they took all these and made a skateboard.
They were able to deliver their battery packs for less than half the costof
competitors who designed custom batteries.
It's almostcounterintuitive to start with the part you canât see to catalyze
the wholedesign. But they did this with Model S.
Slide 24:Performance â Skateboardand Low CoG
The skateboard has performancebenefits in many ways. Itallows for
optimized packaging - great spatial efficiency - for the carâs systems.
The motor, inverter and gearbox sit directly on top of the axles, essentially
a direct drive. Not only does it optimize their performance, this compact 3D
packaging of systems creates spatial opportunity for the car cabin above.
(Click) Wouldnâtour industriesoffer better designsif we dedicated our
effortssimilarly, towardsoptimally efficient packaging?
Slide 25:Performance â OptimizedPackaging
So using all that electric power mass as a skateboard, and concentrating
other elements to create spatial efficiency, leads to some exceptional
outcomes:
Model S has the lowest Center of Gravity of any production sedan 17.5â â
supercar territory.
The heavy battery creates a great dampening element for vibration and
road noise â itâs also an exceptionally quiet car.
The battery weight is evenly distributed front to rear, leading to stellar
handling. Lack of engine allows for spaceframing the frontof the car â a
light way to transfer forces and increase safety.
13. Slide 26:Performance â IntegratedSystems
The integrated systems, packaging, and shellall intertwine to create the
safestcar on the road.
The car achieves 5 stars in all NHTSA crash tests, in fact scoring the highest
ever in its occupant safety tests.
Despite the sensationalstories froma year ago, Model S is more than 10
times less likely to catch fire than gasoline cars.
Slide 27:Performance â Exceptional Envelope
When you start adding all this up, you come to the inevitable conclusion â
the Model S has a FormLanguage of Performance
Teslaâs lead designer Franz Von Holzhausen says of the Model Sâ design
âitâs like an endurance athleteâ, everything in balance, expressing purpose,
athletic.â
(Click)
Rather than chasing style and fashion, shouldnâta form language of
performance be one of our imperatives?
Slide 28:Performance â Aerodynamics
Perhaps thatâs best revealed in the engineering of the carâs envelope and its
aerodynamic efficiency.
The skateboard allows the exterior shell, the body shape, to laser focus on
aerodynamics.
Aerodynamically, Model S has the lowestcoefficient of drag of any
production car, a CoD of .24.
Most significantly, the aerodynamics influence the range performanceof
the Model S.
14. Slide 29:Performance â Language of Safety
With lots of focus on aerodynamics, Tesla was able to offer a car with 275
miles in range, roughly 3 times their nearest competitor.
As this graph shows, after 50 mph, power consumption is exponentially
about aerodynamics.
Since range is the typically largest issuefor many when considering the
purchaseof an electric car, this focus on the carâs envelopewas key.
Slide 30:Design â FormLanguage of Performance
So when design is derived fromperformance, and performanceamplified
by design, we arriveat a truly transformativespot.
Itâs design and engineering that are purposeful, meaningful, and
memorable. Resonant. Integrated.
Itâs a spectacular outcome when design and engineering join to makethe
whole more compelling.
Slide 31:Design â FormLanguage of Performance
Would I love this car as much if it was simply a golf cart that went 0-60 in 3
seconds? Itwould novel and interesting, but not compelling.
Slide 32:Design â IntegratedDesign
A car also must focus on the human body, ergonomics, human-centered
design. The design of Model S considers this in highly integrated ways â all
its pieces fuse engineering purposes with aesthetic resolution and
contribute to an integral whole.
The Door Handle â Oh the door handle, my favorite!!!Itsits flush to the
body of the car when the car is in motion, improving aerodynamics over a
projected handle.
15. But as you approach the car, it projects, it appears when needed (my wife
would say, âsortof like a husbandâ), and reaches out to you, a first
introduction.
(Click)
Shouldnâtalldesigns be more abouthuman interaction than composition?
Again, if we fully embraced that, whatmightwe achieve?
Slide 33:Design â IntegratedDesign
The carâs interior continues the design theme of ergonomic, sinuous shapes
and continual flows, a spaceat rest yet somehow in visualmotion.
Itreally starts with the carâs controls, which are not buttons and dials but
essentially all embedded in the 17â Touchscreen â a consumer electronics
paradigm, a technological fascia, refreshing design.
Slide 34:Spatial Opportunity
Overall, the interior is probably best described as opportunity space,
created by that skateboard battery pack we discussed earlier.
Down low, the flat floor creates opportunity.
The rigid car structureallows for a glass cockpit up top, mixing with the
silence and acceleration of the electric motor to really feel like youâreflying.
Think of this â when I was a kid growing up, we were a family of five, I had
two sisters. Guess who gotto sit on the hump in the middle of the back
seat all the time? Sorebottom, knees in my chin. No more hump. In fact,
the middle seat has the best view of the 17â screen!
Just think of that - the worstseat in every other passenger car is now the
best seat in the Model S. How cool is that?!?
16. Slide 35:Design
Itcontinues with door pulls that happen simply by folding the door panels,
repeated with the latch pull, and providing clever, unexpected storage.
The panoramic roof, which allows for light and ventilation while creating a
continuous expanse of glass thatâs in keeping with the sweeping design
gestures of the car.
Charge Portâ Like door handles, hides when not in use, part of the carâs
safety reflector system.
The headlights, with a distinctive eyelid profile, another favorite of mine,
with LED technology accenting a crisp, linear look.
All these, and many other pieces, a marriage of beauty and performance.
Slide 36:Design â Holistic
And the ethos of Model S extends beyond the car itself, creating a
connected universefor the Tesla brand, a holistic ecosystemof holistic
design.
The Stores
The Superchargers (weâllcome back to those)
The keyfob
Wine glasses (OK, I had those made).
The experience of Model S is enhanced by the holistic approach to design
and engineering.
(Click)
Why wouldnâtwe all move to reclaim a more holistic approach in our
efforts, in our work?
17. Slide 37:Design:Summary
1. Rethink on a systems level â adapt technology
2. Optimize packaging
3. Commit to a form languageof performance
4. Embrace human-centered design
5. Create a holistic ecosystemof design
Slide 38:Innovation â Manufacturing
In 2010, Tesla acquired the NUMMI Factory in Fremont, California.
Previously jointly operated by GM and Toyota, Tesla was able purchasethe
factory for pennies on the dollar.
At over 5Msf, theyâll be able to manufacture500,000cars per year there
when fully built out, sometime in the 2018-2020 timeframe.
Acquiring such a large space and fitting it out allowed Tesla to approach
manufacturing in innovative ways as well.
Slide 39:Manufacturing â In-House Fabrication
The first is Teslaâs ability to insourceapproximately 60% of their parts, with
that number set to grow when they bring battery production back to the US
next year.
Most auto manufacturers basically maketheir engines and thatâs it. Thereâs
a reason that they operate on model years, they are ocean liners when it
comes to changing directions.
Not Tesla, they have literally improved the carâs hardware(physicalparts)
dozens of times in the firstthree years.
Itâs a softwarenotion of upgradeability that they haveapplied to
manufacturing.
(Click)
Shouldnâtwe use digital technologiesto test and prototype?
18. Slide 40:Manufacturing â Highly Adaptable Robotic Assembly
I have been on a factory tour twice, I highly recommend it to anyonewho
can wranglea spot.
The integration of these Kuka robots into production allows for things to be
built and tolerances to be observed that justwouldnâtbe possible
otherwiseâ the process of auto manufacturing informing the product.
These adaptable robots allow Tesla to alter production as they implement
improvements in the car. Not in model years, but as they are able to.
And justas significantly, there are literally hundreds of engineers on the
floor at the factory, right adjacentto production. An amazing, recursive
loop of feedback fromone discipline to the other.
(Click)
How might we collaborate with othersto imagine a more efficient
production process, one thatfeedsback to design?
Slide 41:Manufacturing â Internally CodedSoftware Development
Much like part manufacturing is dramatically more integrated at Tesla than
conventional automakers, so is the softwarethat runs the factory and the
car.
Rather than buying 3rd
party softwareand adapting it, Tesla has written
their own, for the robots, for assembly, for diagnostics, etc.
(Click)
Should more of the value of whatwe do be embedded in writing code for to
help us design?
19. Slide 42:Manufacturing â Gigafactory!
By the end of this decade, Tesla expects to be producing and selling
500,000 cars/year.
However, to supply batteries for a half million cars/year would require
doubling the worldâs production of lithium-ion batteries. How do you do
that?
The answer is Teslaâs Gigafactory, an enormous facility being built outside
Reno that will at least double the worldâs lithium-ion battery production,
manufacturing 50 gWh of batteries per year.
They think the economy of scale and in-housing battery production will
drop battery costs by at least 30%, and thatâs before technological
advances are applied, which are on the order of magnitude of 5%-7%/year.
(Click)
Do we have an equivalent? Whatwill your Gigafactorybe?
Slide 43:Manufacturing â Stationary Storage Products
When batteries become produced at this scaleand their costs come down,
they become very competitive in other applications, such as stationary
storagefor residential, commercial, and utility customers.
Tesla justannounced their firststationary storageproducts 2 months ago â
Powerwalland Powerpack.
The automotive useof batteries drovethe technological advances and cost
reductions. This is going to dramatically accelerate the adoption of
stationary storageand intermittent, renewable energy.
Itâs a virtuous circle.
(Click)
What related products or processes would impactyour industry similarly?
20. Slide 44:Manufacturing:Summary
1. Internalizeprototyping and fabrication
2. Initiate adaptable digital design and fabrication
3. Internally develop and code software
4. Pursuetechnological advances
5. Seek symbiotic opportunities
Slide 45:Innovation â Sales and Service
Lastly, we get to Teslaâs mostdirect interface with the public, with their
clients, through sales and service.
With their unique approach to design, engineering, and manufacturing,
they could have said, âthatâs good, thatâs enoughâ.
But to meet their mission, to accelerate the adoption of sustainable
transport, Tesla needed to offer a fundamentally different approach to
engaging their clients to breed brand loyalty and the best marketing they
could hope for â passionateowners.
(Some of whom, I understand, might even be here todayâŠ)
Slide 46:Sales and Service âDirect toConsumer Sales
In thosebeautiful stores of theirs, Tesla sells cars direct to consumers.
Perhaps many of you have seen them. In someof the highesttrafficked
malls in the country. They are really new-customer education centers,
demystifying the company, the car, and the ownership experience for a
skeptical general public.
In thosestores â except in a few states â Tesla sells direct to consumers.
There is no auto dealership involved. No added cost.
(Click)
When we think aboutour sales model, are we serving our clients best with
our traditionalways?
21. Slide 47:Sales and Service âContinual Software Upgrade
Tesla is covered on Wall Street by a number of automobile analysts.
Recently, one made a dramatic claim â that today, 10% of the value of the
automobile is in its software, butin 10 years 60% of its value will be.
Guess which Silicon Valley based automobile company is best positioned to
be the leader in this space?
Many elements of automotive innovation can be migrated to software,
wheretechnology accelerates much more rapidly as computing costs fall.
So the software-centric Model S is the firstcontinually upgradeable car, and
the firstwhereso much data aboutit is constantly being collected and
analyzed to improve it.
(Click)
How can we harnessdata to improve our officesand projects?
Slide 48:Sales and Service âPerpetual Product Improvement
What exists in softwaresimilarly extends in hardware.
Tesla is perpetually improving their product. If something can be improved,
after testing, itâs implemented. Not in the next model year, but in the next
time production can be reasonably adjusted.
Improved seats. Better battery shields.
Perhaps the biggest improvementhas been their introduction six months
ago of the firstdual-motor, all-wheel drive.
They did this not in a model year change, but in October when it was ready.
Itâs been an instanthit.
(Click)
How do we create an ability to perpetually improve our projects, post-
occupancy?
22. Slide 49:Sales and Service âAutopilot
Uber and Lyftâ Driving services weorder fromthe palms of our hands.
Someone else does the driving for us. What if that someone was your car?
Perhaps the most dramatic hardwareand softwareupgradeto the
ownership experience is Teslaâs integration of autopilot sensors into the car
â cameras, radar, and sonar â and interpolation softwareto run them.
Itâs there in cars today, some of it functional but most of it awaiting
regulatory approvaland a simple softwareupdate.
In doing all of this, they give us back something very precious â time.
(Click)
Whatcan we put on automate to increase efficiencies?
Slide 50:Sales and Service âSupercharging
And finally, supercharging, Teslaâs fast, DCcharging stations that dot the
country, really the world.
Itâs their effortto overcome ârangeanxietyâ that some people feel with
battery electric cars.
Charging at their superchargers is free to Tesla owners. Itâs likeFord and
Exxon got hooked up and you could go into any Exxon and get gas for free.
So they took what was perhaps the carâs greatestperceived weakness and
made it an amenity â free supercharging.
(Click)
The question for us is, whatare our perceived weaknesses â and how can
we turn them into our strengths?
23. Slide 51:Sales + Service:Summary
1. Question antiquated delivery methods
2. Continually upgradethe user experience
3. Perpetually improveproducts and service
4. Automate the mundane to open up opportunity
5. Make a perceived weakness a strength
Slide 52:Whatâs Next for Us
I come back to a sentence in a letter I received a few years back fromthe
Department Head in the College of Architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis
Obispo, my alma mater, extolling the virtues of an architectural education.
In it he remarked that true architecture resides where the intuitive and the
artfulmeet the scientific and the demonstrable.
I think of this often when I think of Tesla and Model S, and how they
operate at the intersection of innovation and integration.
Itwas pretty hard for the automotive industry to see this 10 years ago, but
these ideas were crystalizing among a few leaders at Tesla.
Slide 53:The Intersectionof Design+Performance:The TeslaMotors Lesson
What canât we see thatâs 10 years in front of us?
And who among us will see it?
Will our professions and industries havesimilar leaders?
Fortunefavors the bold â letâs go forth and be brave.
Slide 54:Thank you.