Is it the sort of fantasy you would like – to be transported in a self-driving vehicle, or in a car piloted by a humanoid robot? Obviously that situation could take the awkward decision-making out of nominating a designated driver if a few of you were heading off to a party, but I still think there’s something a little unsettling about the notion.
But that’s where we are heading with Tesla, Elon Musk’s company which is the market-leader in the west when it comes to the manufacture of electric vehicles. China is the world’s biggest market for ‘green vehicles’ and Tesla is in a regulate tussle with a Chinese company, BYD, when it comes to which sells the most product. Musk has said self-drive cars are where his focus will chiefly be in the future and his shareholders believe he knows what he’s doing. Last month, they voted for him to get the $56 billion pay package which a judge had previously ruled against.

I was recently in a Tesla for the first time – not that I have bought one but the guy who drove my wife and me from our hotel to the airport on a recent holiday was zipping around in one. There is a photo of the interior on the home page (is that some Satnav or what?) and for sure its acceleration was phenomenal. He was a good enough driver but given the capabilities of the machine in his hands it was not altogether reassuring when he said that while there were speed limits on Greek roads he was not worried – there were no speed cameras on Rhodes.
But they do have them in America. In 2018, an 18-year-old was killed while driving a Tesla at 116 mph in a 30-mph limit in Florida. (I have been docked three points on my licence for doing 25 in a 20-limit!) HIs father had installed a speed-limiter on the car which his son had persuaded a Tesla dealership to disable. Tesla is now developing parental controls of its own, ones which cannot be turned off. For example, a ‘night curfew’ would alert parents if their car was being driven by their children after a certain time.
Talking about kids driving fast cars…you may recall the 1985 film, Back to the Future, which featured a DeLorean car, which in the movie was the time-transporting creation of Doc Brown, driven by Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. I see it’s now a musical in London’s West End. Maybe Musk’s invention will end up there one day?