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.
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.
combust faster (Score:2)
Re: combust faster (Score:1)
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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?
Another subscription? No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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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
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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
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
Tesla has made all of its patents free for anyone to use so I don't think they would have any problem with the Chinese copying the car.
Tesla does not view other electric car companies as competitors. It wants lots of people making electric cars. It views ICE cars as the competition.
Hopefully they will do a good job and make lots of cars.
(My personal view is the same as Edison...Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration... they have a lot of work to do.)
Re: Good for them (Score:1)
Tesla wants to sell multiple metric fucktons of batteries. Development on their cars pales in comparison to the capital investment of their battery factory. If the other companies who copy their designs realize that building high quality batteries in significant quantity is ludicrous expensive, they'll just buy Tesla batteries. Win for Tesla.
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(My personal view is the same as Edison...Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration... they have a lot of work to do.)
All good, except for your last sentence.
The 99% perspiration was by other people, aimed in random directions – like monkeys at typewriters. The '1% inspiration' was Edison's disdain of academic research, from which he stole actual ideas with abandon.
Edison was an asshole, a shotgun researcher who had his R&D staff try everything imaginable. For example, to improve lightbulb filaments. He rewarded the one to have been randomly assigned a particular 'candidate filament material', and then rewarde
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Except that the electrocution of the elephant was unrelated to Edison, or Tesla, or the war of currents.
Check wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
But Edison was still an asshole, even without killing elephants.
Whoa! Thanks for the correction.
This is how we pick the nits of 'uncorrected claims of knowledge' (AKA bullshit or mistakes) from our collective consciousness.
And yes, I wholeheartedly agree, again, that Edison was an utter and complete asshole.
I still regret, decades later, that my 8-year-old self believed the propaganda, and thought of him as an idol. It was a private sentiment, but regardless, I am now going to throw up into my own mouth just a little.
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
They probably copied part of their design from Tesla, after all, Tesla opened all their patents, it would be silly not to use them.
But what make you say that they just made a Tesla copycat.
In fact, the thing about Tesla is not revolutionary technology but how they made something people want to buy. Before Tesla, EV were all about fuel economy, ecology, urban areas and mid-range smaller cars, cars for responsible adults. Tesla said "fuck that" and made a big, expensive toy that can also be used as a vehicle. Talk to anyone who has tried the model S and they will tell you they felt like kids playing.
They leveraged the advantages of electric engines such as low maintenance and high torque, the auto-pilot is just a straightforward extension of existing line and distance keeping systems. They addressed the range problem by using more expensive batteries (their position on the high-end allowed it) and building high power charging stations. In the end, they just took existing technologies and made them into a nice, fun package, a bit like Apple.
LeEco borrowed the concept but it says nothing about the details. For example, from the article, its autopilot looks more like what GeoHot is doing rather than Tesla.
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In fact, the thing about Tesla is not revolutionary technology but how they made something people want to buy. Before Tesla, EV were all about fuel economy, ecology, urban areas and mid-range smaller cars, cars for responsible adults. Tesla said "fuck that" and made a big, expensive toy that can also be used as a vehicle.
Um, Tesla has been open from its inception (a decade ago?) that their first model would be top-end, the second model would be high-end, and the third model would be mid-high range.
That is exactly how it has played out – as promised. How many mega-corps can you name that keep promises on such a long-range time scale?
If you want a tiny car, buy a SMART. They have been available in vending machines since 1999 (at least in Germany). BMW has recently followed this up with a similarly tiny hybrid in recent years.
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The only problem I see is that certain aspects of the design were probably copied wholesale from Tesla. This is bad when you essentially get to steal aspects of a design that cost a fortune to develop and then deploy a copy for a fraction the cost.
You have to start wondering what's wrong with humanity when the idea that the lives of more (instead of fewer) people could get improved gets called "a problem".
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If it took 1 billion dollars to invent and then refine an idea to fruition, and then others can steal the idea for free, the issue is where does that billion come from? If engineering and R&D firms are not paid for their effort, they will cease to invent anything new.
Re: Good for them (Score:2)
Thousands of people have built working electric drive cars. The idea is had each of them learned from the others, then the cost to develop a better version is not a billion or even millions more, but thousands. Musk spent millions developing manufacturing, and the processes and methods likely more than on the car it's self. If the improvements of all can be shared, he stands to better compete with conventional autos, his real goal.
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If it took 1 billion dollars to invent and then refine an idea to fruition, and then others can steal the idea for free, the issue is where does that billion come from?
Usually from the even bigger economic savings for all of humanity. This actually scales with the size of the human population on Earth. The more people there are, the less it makes sense to lock things up. The advantages of everyone suddenly being more efficient are worth it.
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Basically everyone who has responded to my comment, yourself included, is ignorant of the very concept of investment or finance.
Look, I agree, if the GOVERNMENT - an entity that gets to collect taxes from everyone and thus benefits from efficiency improvements that all it's citizens benefit from - were funding electric car research, they could afford to give it away for free and not be concerned about copycats.
However, national governments have historically been shit for innovation. Their stuff costs far t
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I wondered how far I had to read before the now standard meme "but China copies everything" would be invoked. Gives me a laugh everytime.
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"standard meme "but China copies everything" would be invoked"
It's been true for a long time.
"Gives me a laugh everytime"
I still laugh at lots of things that now get SJW panties uncomfortably bunched up. Doesn't mean they weren't or aren't still true.
Also, it seems that lots of things that China makes & exports contains substances that are banned in other countries, notably lead. :-D
So perhaps this new EV will cut costs by initially using lead-acid batteries .
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The meme is China copies every thing but does a bad job. Straight off the bat they lied about outperforming Tesla vehicles in every way. Tesla released a compact SUV and the metrics for that a very different to the metrics for a sedan. So they underperformed significantly because no compact SUV (keep in mind that is becoming the leading model format globally).
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The only problem I see is that certain aspects of the design were probably copied wholesale from Tesla. This is bad when you essentially get to steal aspects of a design that cost a fortune to develop and then deploy a copy for a fraction the cost. As long as they pay Tesla some compensation for their technology, this would be fine. .
From Tesla: https://www.teslamotors.com/en... [teslamotors.com]
We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.
Technology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world’s most talented engineers. We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patent
Re: It's just practical (Score:2)
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Flying cars! Where is my flying car?
How long until (Score:1)
$399 per month (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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>> 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
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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.
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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).
If you don't own the car you can't stop tracking. (Score:4, Insightful)
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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
D-Class (Score:2)
FTA: "One day the car will be free. The Le See is a D-class car.
Déclassé?
That's truth in advertising.
Bad CG (Score:2)
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."
No Speed (Score:1)