TESLA & AR Claiming some turf

I'm not a legal guy, but the text of the patent reads like it's some kind of legal shotgun, hoping to land on some use of AR that someone else hasn't already claimed.

Whether that's the case or not, it appears they're planning to use AR to improve their manufacturing processes.

In the text of the patent application (it's an application, not a grant) they use the "in some embodiments" phrase a lot, which is what makes me think they're just trying to claim some turf in AR -- just in case there are any specifics some of the other players missed.

It could mean they intend to come up with their own version (hardware / software) of AR devices, and this could be an interesting addition to the space. 

MVIS will still have the best near-eye display.

Google has already been using wearable tech.The image shows multiple black Tesla Model S vehicles in view with a screenshot from APX’s “Skylight” software in the top-right hand corner. This is a familiar view for those who have used Glass before — the device is actually capable of capturing similar shots itself called Vignettes. In the screenshot, the software shows what is purportedly a vehicle’s VIN number, and various options for a factory worker to act on.

Electrek

ZDNet

In some embodiments, the AR glasses may be in the form of safety glasses. The AR device captures a live view of an object of interest, for example, a view of one or more automotive parts. The AR device determines the location of the device as well as the location and type of the object of interest. For example, the AR device identifies that the object of interest is a right hand front shock tower of a vehicle. The AR device then overlays data corresponding to features of the object of interest, such as mechanical joints, interfaces with other parts, thickness of e-coating, etc. on top of the view of the object of interest. Examples of the joint features include spot welds, self-pierced rivets, laser welds, structural adhesive, and sealers, among others. As the user moves around the object, the view of the object from the perspective of the AR device and the overlaid data of the detected features adjust accordingly. The user can also interact with the AR device. For example, a user can display information on each of the identified features. In some embodiments, for example, the AR device displays the tolerances associated with each detected feature, such as the location of a spot weld or hole. As another example, the overlaid data on the view of the object includes details for assembly, such as the order to perform laser welds, the type of weld to perform, the tolerance associated with each feature, whether a feature is assembled correctly, etc. In various embodiments, the AR device detects features of a physical object and displays digital information interactively to the user. The data associated with the object of interest is presented to help the user more efficiently perform a manufacturing task.”

Tesla Truck

People and companies are willing to pay big bucks for sensors that are part of saving big bucks.


Tesla Truck USA TODAY

"Even with 80,000 pounds it'll get to 60 mph in 20 seconds," Musk said, hopping out of a truck. "What about up a hill?"

More significantly for trucking companies, Musk said that a standard diesel truck would be 20% more expensive to operate than a Tesla truck: $1.26 per mile compared to $1.51 per mile.

Musk said that if Tesla Semis were to drive in a convoy, in which trucks can draft off each other while letting computers and sensors keep them just feet apart at highway speeds, it could compete on cost with trains. "This beats rail," said Musk, throwing up an 85 cents per mile cost.

Economic Shockwaves?

Google made e-mail free.

No small feat -- and we don't even think about it anymore. Could they pull the same thing off for transportation?

Is there some kind of economic side-effect of really inexpensive portable interactive screens that we haven't thought of? I'm thinking yes. I don't know what it will be, but there will be side effects.

Autonomous transportation could create some efficiencies in transport that are staggering. Right now to try and carpool for a day to a different town with multiple stops would be extremely difficult - but if we get our transportation by uploading our desired schedule -- we could easily be matched with people going the same way we are at approximately the same time.

Would save time, energy and probably improve the social lives of those traveling.

Of course the demand for Lidar would explode...


Barrons

In the near term, all those miles mean more data to capture, which feeds back into autonomous-driving programs to help make them better. In the medium-to-long term, though, once the kinks have been worked out, tech companies could choose to drive you around as a way to capture data on you and then try to sell you stuff. And that’s the part that Jonas thinks should scare Tesla investors.

“One of the biggest concerns we have about the ‘end-state’ of shared mobility from a Tesla perspective is the risk that other firms could enter the market as a competitor, offering the mobility service from, say, New York to Boston or from Santa Monica to LAX at a loss… just to get access to your time and data,” he wrote. That model could allow Google to one day drive you around practically for free. Think what Google did for email.

Tesla Model S

Some interesting stuff coming from Tesla. The HUD looks pretty interesting.

Check out the comments for debate about the HUD.

Thanks Scott

Electrek

Apple Sell Side - Possible Acquisitions

There are a lot of moving parts in the economy. Something very large just changed, and that is the repatriation of cash to the US from overseas is going to get much easier.

That will make it easier for Apple to bring $250 Billion dollars back home and start throwing it around. Or returning it to shareholders.

Not necessarily directly relevant to Microvision, but definitely relevant to the ecosystem Microvision is a part of.


Forbes

This past Friday, not one but two sellside firms talked about the possibility of Apple making an acquisition of Tesla, Netflix and even Disney.

One firm based their analysis on a survey that showed that 22% of respondents would like Apple to develop a car over the next five years and thus the Tesla acquisition. Following that 22%, the second highest response was for Apple to develop a streaming service ala Netflix.

The analyst concluded that he does not definitively think that Apple will make a big splash with an acquisition of Netflix, Disney or Tesla but once the repatriation of cash from overseas is made less onerous by President Trump's administration, Apple will bring that cash back and increase the size of their share buybacks was his most likely scenario.

Tesla Glass

It's speculative, but one of those rumors that confirms things that have been suspected for a long time.

Microvision is a player in this space.

AutoEvolution

The project reportedly started close to the start of this year, so it can't be too close to its completion. Even though Elon Musk has demonstrated he is the kind of guy who thinks ahead (just look at his Master Plan for proof), we would be willing to bet that this mysterious "Tesla Glass" has very much to do with the Model 3 sedan. That doesn't mean it applies exclusively toTesla's next car, but we should be able to see its fruition as soon as the end of next year. Or maybe even sooner.

OK, but what is it all about? Well, it's about Tesla, and it's about glass. And when you put those two together, you can get all sorts of results. Let's start with what we'd like it to be: a completely new way of making a heads-up display in a car. While we realize that a HUD spreading the whole windshield would be pretty difficult to realize, it could still be done using some sort of eyewear. Think Google Glass. But that would just show a lack of imagination in the naming department from Tesla, so it's probably not that. 

However, even if it doesn't take the entire windshield surface, there's still plenty of room to improve the heads-up display technology, and everybody's been suspecting the Model 3 will have one ever since we caught a glimpse at that barren interior. So "Tesla Glass" having some sort of connection with HUD technology is most definitely a possibility.

Read more: http://www.autoevolution.com/news/word-of-a-project-called-tesla-glass-sparks-up-speculations-110945.html#ixzz4JUhNVR7l

Disruption

He is writing about something else, but the comments about disruption are perfect, and describe why you want to be invested in this disruptive technology.

MicroVision is going to disrupt information display: screens are on their way to a steep decline. MicroVision is just getting started at replacing them. Given the increasing speed at which a superior technology can replace an inferior one we're about to see an amazing transformation. 

Most media consumption has gone mobile, because people like it. Now their second most important criteria - screen size, is about to catch up.

Koyfman is writing here about Tesla, but the sentiments apply to MicroVision just as much. 

(I remain dubious about the particular disruption Tesla is attempting, but not about the MicroVision disruption.)

From WealthDaily

In 1906, the Royal Navy launched a ship that changed the course of history.

It's not widely known outside academic circles or high school history classes, but the commissioning of the HMS Dreadnought in the years before World War I rendered every previous warship type obsolete.

The design of this first-of-its-kind ship — which gave its name to both a class (in the British navy) and a general type (in all navies) of large battleship — was the result of many lessons learned in the largely sea-fought Russo-Japanese War.

Armed with 10 12-inch guns mounted on five traversable turrets, powered by steam turbines, and protected by a thick belt of armor below the waterline, the Dreadnought was the prototype for all large, gun-bearing capital ships right through the end of the Second World War.

It was able to concentrate more firepower, move faster, and take more damage than anything that came before it — and any one of these three advantages would have already been crucial in its own right.

By the time the First World War started in 1914, all modern navies possessed Dreadnought-type battleships. And although the original Dreadnought had been matched and even outclassed by that time, its overall layout carried through to ships we still recognize today, like the Iowa-class battleships that fought the Pacific War against the Japanese Empire.

But as you may have guessed, this article isn't about ships, and it's not about war... It's about the concept of disruption — something the Dreadnought achieved at a level seldom seen in history.

Don't think of it as a weapon; think of it as a product... a product that made all preceding products in that class as good as dead.

GOOGLE

Back in the late 1990s, Google made perhaps the single most profound disruptive innovation by changing the way scientists, university professors, and eventually people from all walks of life find and share information.

The concept of a library — a place where public knowledge is stored and accessed and something that had been with humanity since thousands of years before the Common Era — was forever made obsolete by a single algorithm that just happened to manage freely available data.

Elusive, Game Changing, World Changing

From an investment standpoint, there is absolutely nothing like a disruptive technology — as long as you get in before the disruption.

Just think of the guy who gave Henry Ford his first seed capital to develop the Model T, which disrupted the luxury-only automotive industry and the production industry in one fell swoop.

In today's world, however, it's not always as easy to see a paradigm-shifting new development coming.

Most of us only realize it's arrived long after the fact, and that's something that's unfortunately never going to change.

However, some impending disruptions are easier to spot than others.

There is one in the works right now that you've almost definitely heard of and probably even know a thing or two about.

Few people realize, though, just how disruptive this coming technological revolution is.

SONY -- TESLA -- LENOVO -- Event live streams TODAY October 4, 2014

This is not a statement or assumption that Microvision WILL be included at any of these. SONY has the best chance. Rumors have swirled around a Tesla - Microvision connection for some time. Lenovo is just in the space.

SONY

C|net has live blog coverage

Other C|Net coverage (stream I hope)

"Demand Great" @ Twitter

Sony @ Twitter


LENOVO

Lenovo Live Stream 3PM Eastern

Released a tablet with a projector, with less than 1/2 the resolution of the Sony PicoP engine.

Lenovo Yoga



TESLA

http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-oct-9-live-coverage-hashtag-elonsd/

The "D" and "Something Else"

TechSpot

Musk on Twitter

Admittedly, the possible connection between TESLA and Microvision is perhaps a bit of a stretch. The only media reference found so far is a Benzinga statement that they're "hearing chatter" about such a connection. 

.... this is a direction from which we could get a surprise.

Benzinga Hearing Chatter

Thanks Alessandro