For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
#1862839
I doubt there are many here who will want to find the time to watch this 50+ minute interview with Elon Musk, but I found it fascinating. He is a divisive man but I am beginning to think he wants to get to Mars merely because his brain is the size of a planet.

Some of his thoughts on product design, manufacturing, testing, & automation are thought provoking if nothing else. His grasp of details seems boundless.

By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862867
Very interesting his various insights into production engineering, such as reduction of testing to remove bottlenecks ( should I comment that the finishing quality of Tesla's doesn't get the best of reputations). He is certainly hands on! He knows the detail.
Also using technology designed for the cars on starship, like using a Model 3 motor to control the grid fins.
Like him or not, it's interesting for anyone interested in engineering.
Colonel Panic liked this
#1862871
Testing , or lack of it, explains a lot of the supposed issues with Teslas, mine is perfect as far as I can see. They seem to have the view that it is better to produce the cars and have any issues sorted out by the customer reporting and then a Service Centre repairing, rather than factory quality control to probably excessive standards that most customers wouldn't notice and then taking the car out of the production line with disruption.
Colonel Panic liked this
#1862893
malcolmfrost wrote:Testing , or lack of it, explains a lot of the supposed issues with Teslas, mine is perfect as far as I can see. They seem to have the view that it is better to produce the cars and have any issues sorted out by the customer reporting and then a Service Centre repairing, rather than factory quality control to probably excessive standards that most customers wouldn't notice and then taking the car out of the production line with disruption.

Isn't that the "modern way" for most things these days? Software seems not to be well tested and it's left to customers/users to report problems which may, or may not, be fixed later.
If they want me to be their tester then the price needs to reflect that fact.
#1863518
Part 2 of the Musk / Starbase interview is now available - for much of it it seems he is either not really enjoying it, or he is otherwise distracted in thought. To work with him must be both scary and fascinating at the same time.

The amount of money this project must consume beggars belief. His knowledge of the details is phenomenal.

I like his honesty when he says "And I do have a habit of being optimistic with schedules". Something of an understatement as any Tesla owner will tell you ...



EDITED TO ADD: He admits he "was operating on limited sleep and serious back pain, so not at my best."
#1863560
I read a biography about him written by a journalist that I'm afraid I've forgotten the name of. He's clearly brilliant, but working close to him must be very difficult indeed.

When he grew up in South Africa, his family too flying holidays: his father was a GA pilot, they brought tents and landed and camped out in the bush. If you subject your children to too much GA, perhaps they turn out like Elon?

Seriously, though: not many parents would have been as supportive of a child like Elon as his family was. Society needs people who are so far out of the box that they even lose sight of it. Steve Jobs and Elon Musk probably had a lot in common. It's people like them, with enough drive and a good bit of luck, who bring about the paradigm shifts that are needed to leap forward. Without them, we'd all still be making incremental improvements to stone axes.