Tesla is famous as the company that likes to push boundaries. They’ve done plenty of firsts in the last few years alone, including being the first to do the outrageous thing of sending a car into space. It says a lot for Tesla when it comes to innovation and imagination–we’ll give them that. But they certainly don’t need to go to space in order to impress the lot of us. Tesla’s fearless leader, Elon Musk, is not holding back when it comes to projects here on land. Their array of automobiles, for one, is nothing short of impressive. From design to mechanics, engineering, and tech, Tesla cars are definitely topnotch and one of a kind. But they’re not the type that just stops there.
Geek.com recently reported that Tesla has found a solution to boredom in the car. The car manufacturer has teamed up with Netflix–arguably the best streaming service in town–so viewers can catch up on Stranger Thing sor relive every single crazy episode of Orange Is The New Black all while on the road. Tesla is also adding on a YouTube option for those who prefer to binge on endless cake making videos, makeup tutorials, and try-not-to-laugh challenge videos.
Don’t get excited just yet. There are still a few things to iron out about this development. First off, when the new feature gets released, streaming will only be allowed on cars that are stationary. Your transmission literally has to be on “park” in order for Netflix to come on. The bigger vision, eventually, is for streaming to work even when the car is moving. But that’ll only be possible with fully autonomous driving, which is currently only legally allowed in certain states and in limited capacities as well. Tesla has already developed full self-driving features for cars, but that remains to be approved on a federal level and for many states still. While progress in that area is still underway, Tesla continues to find ways to improve its autonomous driving features. For now, streaming shows and videos while parked is the only option–which is not bad at all.
Musk tweeted recently that the streaming service is set to come out soon, but there’s no set date for a reveal just yet. Musk teased a possible release by next month; but if that doesn’t happen, Netflix will definitely happen before the year is over. Other than that, Tesla hasn’t released any further information, which isn’t unusual for the tight-lipped company. The hype buildup is part of their marketing strategy; although we suspect that there won’t be much marketing needed to entice people about the streaming feature.
It’s a great sell for anyone that loves mobile streaming. It’s also a beneficial feature for families with constantly impatient passengers. With its current design, the streaming service will work best with lower end Tesla models such as the Model 3 and the soon-to-be-released Model Y. Both cars feature wide aspect screens that are best suited for watching videos. Higher end Tesla models will also have access to the streaming service. However, those models are equipped with vertical screens, which isn’t ideal if you don’t want to miss any part of your favorite show. We’re sure these are small kinks that Tesla is looking to iron out before the streaming feature officially comes out.
For the past few years, Tesla has been diligently working to improve their infotainment and entertainment systems. Elon Musk proudly declares that having Netflix on their cars will be close to a cinematic experience. The monitors are closer to tablet size; but combine that with an amazing surround sound system, and the results are pretty dramatic. Tesla has also been working on its collection of video games in-car. It’s got a solid collection of classic Atari games such as Missile Control, Centipede, and Asteroids. Tesla has also included modern mobile favorites such as Breakout and the addicting 2048 game. In the near future, we’ll be seeing Beach Buggy Racing 2 and the award-winning Fallout Shelter as well.
There are still a few safety concerns regarding this development in the automobile industry. While Tesla is only streaming Netflix and YouTube while cars are on parked, the future goal is still very clear: autonomous driving. It begs to question the purpose of autonomous driving altogether. Self-driving cars can serve members of the population that are otherwise unable to drive. However, safety concerns still abound whether self-driving cars are better at all. Early experiments with prototypes have had promising results, but nothing is nearly good enough for release. It may be a long time before we see self-driving cars on the road, which means that it might be a while before every single passenger on a vehicle can watch a show while traveling. According to this report, it also seems as if people are still wary of autonomous vehicles. We’re just not confident enough with what’s out there.
Having the option to watch Netflix in your car might be a comfy start to an opinion change. Regardless of how the general public may feel at the moment, it’s clear that the future of driving is in autonomy–it’s going to happen at some point. Whether we see it in our lifetime or not might even be out of the question. Tesla is motivated, and Musk is certainly not one to be stopped. Given that they’re also hiding a lot more than they’re letting on, we just don’t know what Tesla has in store for the automobile industry. But for now, we can just settle with Netflix and chill while the car is on park. If you have to drive on, the rest of your show binging will just have to wait until the next stop.
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