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How Tesla changed the auto industry forever

With the release of Tesla’s Model 3tonight to the first 30 customers (really just Tesla employees, according to multiple reports), it’s easy to lose sight of how far this young automaker has come — and how much impact it’s had on the rest of the industry.

Most of the commentary around the Model 3 is focused on the stakes for Tesla, and many are parsing over every tweet by CEO Elon Musk for clues about the car’s cost, interior, and what sort of options will be available.

Autopilot

When Tesla first released Autopilot in October 2015, Musk cautioned drivers to “be quite careful.” After all, this was the first time that semi-autonomous technology of this level was being offered in a commercial vehicle. Musk acknowledged that "some people" may take their hands off the wheel regardless, adding, "We do not advise that.”

He was right, of course. It only took a couple of days for YouTube to fill up with videos of Tesla drivers treating their cars like they were fully autonomous, sometimes with frightening results. The videos were proof that some people will always react idiotically when handed a new and powerful technology. And more than that, it sent a clear signal to the rest of the auto industry about the direction it was headed.Of course, it wasn’t a fully autonomous vehicle in the vein of a Google car — the primary feature of Autopilot was what Tesla called Autosteer, which keeps the car in its current lane once you're already on the road and manages speed and distance from the car ahead of it.

Autonomy isn’t just a science experiment being fussed over by a few Silicon Valley eggheads. It is the end goal for all cars, and Musk was giving regular people their first taste. Since Autopilot’s first appearance, all the major automakers have announced their own plans to roll out semi-autonomous or highly automated systems. GM is equipping the Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is getting Drive Pilot. Nissan has ProPilot. Audi says the new A8 will be Level 3 autonomous. And on and on.

With the release of the Model 3, the big question now is where Autopilot is heading. Last year, Tesla split with auto vision startup Mobileye and embarked on its own path toward automation. Since then, Musk has announced that all Tesla models will be equipped with technology to make them fully driverless. If there’s no update on the future of Autopilot at tonight’s event, it seems safe to assume that the departure of Mobileye was more damaging to Tesla’s project than the company is letting on.

Hands-free will soon be standard in most vehicles, with experts pointing to 2020 as the year we’ll start to see autonomous and semi-autonomous cars on the road en masse. But Tesla got there first.

Electrification

Much like Autopilot forced the big automakers to begin developing their own semi-autonomous systems, Musk’s commitment to bringing electrification to the masses proved to be equally influential. The success of the Model S and X, as well as Tesla’s stock valuation of $56 billion, served as a strong signal about the direction of the industry.

One could argue Musk was too successful in pushing his rivals to embrace electrification. GM beat Tesla to the punch by releasing its mass-market EV, the Chevy Bolt, months before the Model 3. But Musk may still have a few tricks up his sleeve. Many will be watching to see whether the Model 3’s base model will have more or less range than the Bolt. Last year, Tesla said the car would run more than 215 miles per charge — but how much more? The Bolt gets 239 miles of range. That’s a lot for a base model, but Musk is hyper-competitive and not likely to let that slide.

By 2040, analysts now say that 54 percent of all cars sold on the planet will be electric. France’s environmental minister said yesterday his country would ban the sale of all fossil fuel-burning vehicles by 2040. The UK was quick to follow. And Volvo said it would stop selling gas-only cars by 2019. Welcome to the Tesla party.