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China Businesses Transportation

Chinese Conglomerate LeEco Wants To Give Away Its 'Tesla Killer' Electric Supercar For Free (ndtv.com) 67

Rishi Alwani, reporting for Gadgets 360 (edited and condensed for clarity): At an event in Beijing this week, Chinese technology conglomerate LeEco showed off its LeSEE self-driving electric supercar. A slide noted that LeEco's car can reach 130mph which is a fair bit behind of the Tesla Model S' top speed range of 140 to 155 mph. Nonetheless, the company said the final product should beat Tesla in "all aspects of performance." The car sports a rounded design with a giant LED screen plastered on the front of the vehicle. If the car is being used for cab services, for instance, the screen can show if it's available for hire or not. There's an arched transparent roof and what seems to be generous cabin space. The interior sported a futuristic-looking steering wheel with a lit-up centre that quite possibly would replace the traditional dashboard and was complemented by a monitor next to it. It also had ridged backseats that may look uncomfortable but is actually memory foam - a polyurethane material used in mattresses that can mould to the shape of a passenger's body for maximum comfort.

Perhaps the most interesting component of its LeSEE concept has nothing to do with the technology, but rather the business models involved. For one, the company believes it has a huge role to play in LeShare - a time-sharing electric vehicle platform that's present in Beijing and Shanghai with plans to expand to five more cities in China. Electric vehicles and charging resources will be shared between LeShare and LeEco-backed Uber competitor Yidao. In addition to this, LeEco believes that the car will eventually be free, in line with the same business model it has for some of its other hardware, charging users for content, subscriptions or memberships.
For a refresh, LeEco (LeTV) was founded in 2004, and has since become a major name in many technology-centric markets. It offers live-streaming, e-commerce, cloud, smartphones, TV set-top boxes, and smart TVs among many other products and services. The company has a market capitalisation of at least $12 billion.
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Chinese Conglomerate LeEco Wants To Give Away Its 'Tesla Killer' Electric Supercar For Free

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  • than round-eyes car
    • Chugokugin no kuruma wa totemo atsui, deska? :p
      • Well, that answers that question (I was wondering how many Chinese bothered to learn Japanese; answer: apparently at least one hyper-sensitive loser or PLA shill).
        • Considering that China was conquered and raped by the Japanese, likely many Chinese were forced to learn Japanese during WW2, so likely, the ones who know Japanese intersects with the group that remembers Japanese occupation as a pretty horrific experience?

  • by wardrich86 ( 4092007 ) on Saturday April 23, 2016 @03:33PM (#51973901)
    "...charging users for content, subscriptions or memberships."

    That's not free at all... in fact, that's how you make something cost infinitely more than it would if you just bought it outright. I'm sick of my wallet being tapped and I hope to hell the rest of the world doesn't start pulling this shit on cars.
    • I will take one. Hopefully astalavista.bocks.esskay will have a crack for it ;)
    • by Nemyst ( 1383049 )
      Subs work in a lot of contexts. For instance, it makes far more sense for me to sub for Google Music at $8/mo than to buy the occasional album - I get access to a significantly wider collection and it costs me less to do so. Same goes for Netflix, especially when you share that with a few family members.

      Cars... Well, it could work. A significant proportion of cars currently on the road are rentals, and aren't those just time-limited subscriptions? I don't know whether it'd be economically viable for the c
      • Except that under the subscription model you own nothing. When you buy the CD, movie, etc, you own an infinitesimally smaller piece of the music library for your $12, With the subsciption model, you only have access as long as you keep paying that $12, and if they change their agreement with the artists/record companies, you access to your favorite artist might be removed next month. When you buy a DVD or CD, you own that forever.
    • that's how you make something cost infinitely more than it would if you just bought it outright.

      Buying a car costs you an infinite sum as well. Because a car doesn't last forever, you will always be replacing it every n years. And since you're multiplying a fixed monthly fee by an infinite amount of time to claim an infinite cost, likewise paying $x to buy a new car every n years for an infinite amount of time will have infinite cost.

      The subscription model does not have to be bad. There are certain a

  • The screens on everything concept winds up looking dated? Honestly I can't tell if that's supposed to be a future car from now or the 80's. The back seat looks painfully uncomfortable.
  • $399 per month (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Trachman ( 3499895 ) on Saturday April 23, 2016 @04:29PM (#51974189) Journal

    What are they saying that in 10 years people will need satelite navigation, and will not now how to drive from point A to point B without computer telling them directions.

    Included will be

    * compulsory service fee (includes air pressure monitoring, electrolyte level check and top-up, anti-rust protection, seat protection from dirt)
    * satellite navigation
    * free calls
    * hardware insurance
    * Compulsory automatic emergency/911 service ( already a law in EU from 2018)
    * Streaming music service
    * all for a package of $399 per month (that is with the $4000 documentation and setup fees)

    Just like current teenagers cannot imagine life without iphones, in ten years there will be a number of people who will never open the hood, will not check the air pressure themselves.

    I almost forgot. You will be convinced to replace the car to a better model every two years.

    • never open the hood

      Less than a decade ago, /. went into meltdown because a Swedish car company proposed that future cars would have welded hoods (bonnets) and not be user serviceable. I guess car companies do look into the future. Just have to wait for older generations to die off. Kinda obviates the need for a 3d printer though.

      • by Jeremi ( 14640 )

        Less than a decade ago, /. went into meltdown because a Swedish car company proposed that future cars would have welded hoods (bonnets) and not be user serviceable.

        Looks like the prediction was wrong, though. Future cars will instead let you store your luggage under the hood [trbimg.com], since there's no need to put an engine there anymore.

    • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

      In 10 years, I'd rather not have a car.
      I have a car because I need to if I want to keep a tiny bit of independence. Mass transit is poor and taxis are a ripoff so they are not really an option. But having a car is a PITA : you have to have a place to park it, pay for insurance even when you don't use it, maintenance costs time and money too.
      There are places where you don't need your own car, the challenge for the next 10 years is to make it so everywhere else.

      And I won't mind paying $400/month for not needi

    • >> in ten years there will be a number of people who will never open the hood, will not check the air pressure themselves

      I am the only one in my family to ever open out car's bonnet (ok, you can say "hood" if you like), or check the tyres. (I added a little gadget on each wheel that flashes when pressure is low - and they tell me it's flashing. As opposed to actually doing anything about it).

      Mind you, come to that, none of the other family members (yup, all female) have ever changed a fuse, wired a p

      • by chihowa ( 366380 )

        My wife has done all of the above and asked me to show her how to change the car's oil. Additionally, she wants to watch or help every time I fix an appliance and is way better at carpentry than me. She insists that I teach our daughter how to fix things, shoot well, and be generally capable as she grows up. Maybe it's just the females that you've selected/made that are defective! ;)

        Of course, I regularly cook, clean, and do all of the above, too.

    • In ten years? I've had my Ford for 4 years and I've only opened the hood for adding windshield wiper fluid. The air pressure (and a bunch of other things) is checked at the dealer's where I drive it to get the tyres replaced twice a year (in November they take the summer tyres off, put them in storage and bolt on the winter tyres on, vice versa in May).

  • by Daniel Matthews ( 4112743 ) on Saturday April 23, 2016 @06:15PM (#51974783)
    The communist Chinese government will love such a system, the "system" owns the cars and the individual pays for each use of them, so that the people have zero chance of protecting their privacy while using the vehicles. It is a public transport system and therefore does not actually compare with or compete against with Telsa in many markets. That makes it less of a business model and more of a political model.
    • what if the government made you put a label on your car so their computers could tell who you were and where you went?!! oh wait, they do.

      so what's the problem? your privacy concern is ridiculous, no one gives a shit where you drive

  • FTA: "One day the car will be free. The Le See is a D-class car.

    Déclassé?

    That's truth in advertising.

  • Each image in the article, except for the last one with a mock-up, is poorly done CG.

    The tell-signs are so numerous that I have no interest in naming them. Those with even minimal knowledge of CG can tell. Please share your image-interpretations.

    Oh, BTW, at the very end of the fluff Advertorial, you find the following (in the unreadable Arial Italics type-face):

    "Disclosure: LeEco paid for the correspondent's flights and accommodation to attend its Beijing launch event."

  • Why the most talked params are speed and acceleration? It doesn't matter in cars like this. Doesn't matter if 140 or 150. For me is important time of charging and how many km I can get on one charge, price and safety.

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