Literature Review

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Some of the key takeaways are that Tesla is leading in electric vehicle range and autonomous driving capabilities. They also regularly update vehicle software and use driving data to improve the customer experience.

Tesla vehicles have a longer electric range per charge compared to other EVs. They also have more advanced autonomous features like autopilot, auto lane changing, and summon. Tesla also has a large nationwide charging network.

Tesla began including autonomous features like autosteer in 2014 and announced in 2016 that all vehicles would be capable of full self-driving once the software was complete. They have continued developing features like navigate on autopilot.

Creamer 1

Justin Creamer

Eng. 1201

Prof. Cook

3-11-2021

Literature Review

Over the past 6 years, Tesla has seen great changes in their sales numbers, and for good

reason. Teslas of today offer features ranging from autopilot, Tesla's self driving/ self parking

feature, to a 17” screen allowing for navigation, music, gaming, and more. Most notably,

Tesla's auto-pilot feature is leading the world in self driving capabilities and will likely be the

first company to develop a full autonomous vehicle. This leaves a problem for other car

companies, because if they want to be able to keep up with the times then they must begin work

on autonomous vehicles. The question that needs to be answered is why Tesla’s cars are so

sought after and what other car manufacturers are doing to not fall too far behind.

The history behind Tesla becoming the front runner in fully electric and fully automated

cars is short. The company was founded in 2003 by two entrepreneurs and named the company

after Serbian inventor, Nikola Tesla. Tesla was formed to develop electric sports cars. Funding

for the company was most notably obtained from Elon Musk, a co-founder of PayPal. Musk

became chairman of the company in 2004. In 2008 Tesla released its first fully electric

“Roadster” and it achieved ranges unprecedented for the electric car industry. The Roadsters

price was set at $109,000 making it a luxury item. The two founders who were residing as CEO

and President, left the company in 2008. Musk took over as CEO after their resignations. In

2012 Tesla stopped production on the Roadster and concentrated on it’s Model S sedan.
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Acclaimed for its performance and design, the Model S had increased ranges and quicker

acceleration than its predecessor. In 2014 the first version of semi autonomous vehicles became

available on the Model S. Two years prior, Tesla built charging stations across the United States

and Europe allowing for charging at no extra charge. In 2015, Tesla released the Model X, a

crossover vehicle with features of a sport utility vehicle but built on a car chassis. Due to

demand, in 2017, Tesla began production on a cheaper 4 day sedan with a price of $35,000. The

company also branched out into solar energy products for homes and businesses in 2015. They

changed their name to “Tesla Inc.” as they no longer just sold cars. (Shreiber).

Currently Tesla has one big advantage of it’s electric vehicles over other company’s, and

that’s range. The range on the Model 3, Tesla's cheapest vehicle, is up to 250 miles. However

most of the company’s cars can get over 300 miles on a single charge. Boudette, writer at New

York Times, compares these numbers to those of other company’s. “​The maximum for the

E-tron and Taycan is about 200 miles. The I-Pace and Bolt go about 235 to 260 miles”. The

E-tron is an Audi manufactured vehicle, Taycan is a Porsche manufactured vehicle. The I-Pace

and Bolt are Jaguar and Chevrolet manufactured respectively (Boudette). This New York Times

article appears to be reliable as New York Times is a respected publisher. This article has also

been consistently updated over the past 8 months, continuing to add new information. This

article is written towards a more casual reader compared to some other sources. It refrains from

going into great detail about Tesla vehicles and makes what it’s saying easy to understand.

Not only is Tesla fully electric, but it also has many self-driving capabilities that other

manufacturers haven’t added to their vehicles. Tesla's Autopilot features include: Traffic Aware

Cruise Control, which matches your speed to that of the surrounding traffic. And Autosteer

which assists in steering within a clearly marked lane. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Capabilities
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include: Navigate on Autopilot, which makes all interstate driving autonomous, Auto Lane

Change, Auto Park, Summon, Smart Summon, and Traffic and Stop Sign Control. An upcoming

capability is Auto Steering on city streets. (Tesla). This source is written by Tesla’s Autopilot

team so it would be difficult to find a source more reliable. Tesla is labeled as the chief

innovator of the self-driving car market, a goal of Elon Musks when he took over the company.

The company began including self-driving features in its cars in 2014 such as auto steering in a

marked lane. In 2016 Tesla announced that all of it’s vehicles would include hardware that was

capable of full self-driving capabilities, though the software necessary would be withheld until it

was fully developed. (Biscontini). This source is labeled as a “​Research Starter​” on the

Sinclair Database and has over 15 sources cited, making it a very reliable source.

Software Updates are another huge part of Tesla cars that other manufacturers don’t

include. These software updates compare to updates that a smartphone would receive. Very

quick, even sometimes without even knowing, and no need to go to a dealership or shop

(Boudette). This software updatability is a very important feature of Tesla’s. “This capability

drew attention in 2018, after Tesla rapidly released an update to the Model 3's braking algorithm

in response to criticism from ​Consumer Reports.​ The fix led ​Consumer Reports​ to reevaluate the

car and subsequently change its verdict from not recommended to recommended.” As

previously mentioned, this ability was used to delay the self-driving ability of Tesla’s in 2016 to

2017 (Biscontini).

As we move farther into the twenty-first century data continues to take over our lives in

almost every way. Teslas are able to use your data it takes from driving tendencies and learns to

adapt to your driving habits. It also uses similar software that apps such as Google Maps use in

order to calculate the fastest route and to recognize any traffic or other interruptions. As Howard
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Tullman says in his article ​The Future of the Auto Industry Is Data. Which Means Tesla Has

Already Won. ​“Data never dies”. Meaning that even as we continue to adapt to as a society, our

data will always be very valuable and powerful.

The question in the air is why is Tesla the future of automobiles and what are other

manufactures doing to stay in the race? It is clear why Tesla is labeled the “future”. From their

high range on an electric charge, leading self-driving and autopilot capabilities, regular software

updates to all of their vehicles, and use of data to help improve your driving, Tesla’s lead the

competition in almost every aspect of electric vehicles. Further research needs to be done to

determine what other manufactures are doing, it appeared that some companies were dabbling in

electric vehicles, but were doing nothing to compete with the other Tesla features.
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Work Cited

Schreiber, Barbara A. “Tesla, Inc.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica,​ Encyclopædia Britannica,


Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors.

“Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability.” ​Tesla, Inc​, 19 Feb. 2021,


www.tesla.com/support/autopilot.

Biscontini, Tyler. “Tesla Inc.” ​Research Starters,​ Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2021,

eds-b-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=4d1f7caa-a

110-41fc-beb9-aea3d40356d6%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLW

xpdmU%3d#AN=100259322&db=ers.

Boudette, Neal E. “In the Electric Car Market, It's Tesla and a Jumbled Field of

Also-Rans.” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times, 22 July 2020,

www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/business/tesla-electric-car-audi-polestar.html.

Schreiber, Barbara A. “Tesla, Inc.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica,​ Encyclopædia Britannica,


Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Tesla-Motors.

Tullman, Howard. “The Future of the Auto Industry Is Data. Which Means Tesla Has

Already Won.” ​Inc.com​, Inc., 4 Feb. 2020

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