Steve Jobs 傳記作者 Walter Isaacson 確認為 Elon Musk 寫傳
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在 2011 年曾為 Steve Jobs 寫過傳記的 Walter Isaacson，現已確認會成為 Elon Musk 新傳記的作者。此前在六月時，Fox Business 曾報導過 Isaacson 與 Musk 商談合作可能性的流言。時至今日 Musk 自己發推證實了這一消息，並稱新書將涵蓋他在 Tesla、SpaceX 的工作以及「各種生活雜事」。
If you’re curious about Tesla, SpaceX & my general goings on, @WalterIsaacson is writing a biography — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2021
實際上，在 2015 年已經有另一位作者 Ashlee Vance 為 Musk 寫過一本名為《Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future》的傳記。但考慮到在那之後 Tesla、SpaceX 等 Musk 名下的公司又取得了不少值得再書的成就，多一本新傳記也能讓人更好地了解矽谷「鋼鐵人」的事蹟吧。
目前 Isaacson 尚未正式就為 Musk 寫傳一事發表回應，但從六月起他就一直有在 Twitter 上分享 SpaceX 相關的內容。之前的 Jobs 傳記後來還被 Aaron Sorkin 改編成了電影，不知 Musk 的故事未來是不是也會被搬上大銀幕呢？
Tesla may launch humanoid robot next year: Musk
Tesla may launch humanoid robot next year: Musk
Reuters, SAN FRANCISCO
Tesla Inc CEO Musk on Thursday said the electric automaker would probably launch a “Tesla Bot” humanoid robot prototype next year, designed for dangerous, repetitive or boring work that people do not like to do.
Speaking at Tesla’s AI Day event, the billionaire entrepreneur said the robot, at about 173cm tall, would be able to handle jobs from attaching bolts to cars with a wrench, to picking up groceries at stores.
The robot would have “profound implications for the economy,” Musk said, addressing a labor shortage.
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla;s Gigafactory in Gruenheide, Germany, on Friday last week. Photo: Reuters
He said it was important to make the machine not “super-expensive.”
The AI Day event came amid growing scrutiny over the safety and capability of the company’s “Full Self-Driving” advanced driver assistant system.
Musk did not comment on that scrutiny over the safety of Tesla technology, but said that he was confident of achieving full self-driving with higher safety than humans using current in-car cameras and computers.
US safety regulators earlier this week opened an investigation into Tesla’s driver assistant system because of accidents where Tesla cars crashed into stationary police cars and fire trucks.
Two US senators have also called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Tesla’s claims for its “Full Self-Driving” system.
At the event on Thursday Tesla also unveiled its in-house designed chips, Dojo, to help develop its automated driving system.
Musk said Dojo would be operational next year.
He said Tesla would also introduce new hardware for its self-driving computer for its Cybertruck electric pick-up truck in “about a year or so.”
Tesla last month pushed back the launch of its much-anticipated Cybertruck from this year, without giving a timeframe for its arrival on the market.
Some questioned whether Musk, who has frequently touted technology advances at showpiece events only to scale plans down later on, would be able to come good on his aims for the robot.
“Is the ‘Tesla Bot’ the next dream shot to pump up the hype machine?” said Raj Rajkumar, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
“I can safely say that it will be much longer than 10 years before a humanoid bot from any company on the planet can go to the store and get groceries for you,” he said.
Elon Musk says Tesla’s robot will make physical work a ‘choice’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company will have a prototype of a humanoid robot by next year
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San Francisco (AFP)
After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat into the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced the latest frontier he’s aiming to conquer: humanoid robots.
The irascible entrepreneur said Thursday he would have an initial prototype of an androgynous “Tesla Bot” by next year.
Based on the same technology as the company’s semi-autonomous vehicles, the robot will be able to perform basic repetitive tasks with the aim of eliminating the need for people to handle dangerous or boring work, Musk said at an online event on Tesla’s advances in artificial intelligence (AI).
“Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company because cars are semi-sentient robots on wheels,” he said. “It kind of makes sense to put that into a humanoid form.”
Tesla’s touting of its automation technology comes as the carmaker faces increased scrutiny over its driver-assistance system, with safety regulators in the United States launching a probe after a series of crashes.
Tesla is accused of misleading motorists into believing the so-called Autopilot vehicles can drive themselves, though Musk has defended the system.
The Autopilot controversy was not discussed at Thursday’s two and a half hour online conference, or brought up during questions from the audience.
Instead, Musk pledged that his future robot would be a benign presence.
He said the Tesla Bot, which will have five-fingered hands and come in black and white, is intended to be “friendly” and built such that “you can run away from it and most likely overpower it.”
“Hopefully that won’t happen, but you never know,” he joked.
Musk, the second richest person in the world according to Forbes, told the conference he believes robots will phase out physical labor for people.
“I think essentially in the future physical work will be a choice,” he said.
As CEO, Musk has transformed Tesla from a fledgling startup into a pacesetter in the electric car industry, with the company last month reporting its first-ever quarterly profit above $1 billion on record deliveries.
His company SpaceX is also competing in the booming commercial aerospace market, while Neuralink aims to develop brain implants to connect humans and computers.
But the self-described “Technoking” has also repeatedly clashed with regulators over everything from his use of social media to discuss Tesla’s operations to local coronavirus health protocols affecting his factories.
The company has had a rocky record with its human workforce, including allegations of unfair labor practices and firing a union organizer.
© 2021 AFP