It's a so-called wet submarine, meaning that it fills with water when submerged, so the driver has to wear a wetsuit and breathe air from a tank. (The dry passenger compartment shown in the movie was a set.) It has no steering wheel or other automobile controls and is instead controlled with levers. The fins on the outside are not retractable, but permanent.
So, the title is false. Or at best, misleading. He is going to take a james bond movie prop and get it wet. He is not going to make [the] "james bond submarine car" a reality. This is somehow increasingly typical of Tesla stories that make it on HN.
Are you sure Musk isn't planning on massively upgrading the thing to transform and be an actual "dry submarine"? The article says that the car he bought is just a prop that doesn't even transform, but that he wants to make it transform. That sounds to me like his goal is to recreate the functionality the car had on film, including having a dry interior when submerged.
[1] From wikipedia: "Musk plans to install a Tesla electric powertrain in the submarine S1 and make it transform into a road-going car. [6]" There is nothing in the story that say it would be a dry submarine. What it appears is that the <wet submarine> would be able to "transform" into a road-going car, in other words, just what wikipedia quote also says. CNN, viz: "I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," Musk said in a statement provided by Tesla. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real." But a power train is not a pressure hull(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_hull#Pressure_hull), which is what would be required for a dry sub.
The high weight of the Tesla battery pack actually would be useful if it was to be converted to a dry submarine. (He couldn't keep the same battery pack form factor, however.)
Yea--I found this site's flaw. It's a huge flaw too. I'm
not used to any censorship, but I guess those days are over
when big money is floating around? I had no idea what
Hell Banned was until I came here.
> Subs are not energy efficient. Water is 1,000x more dense than air, & moving through it takes far more energy.
I don't disagree that this is impractical, and you could be right that subs are inefficient, but the density argument alone doesn't seem sufficient, because propellers (and presumably other means of propulsion) also generate a lot more lift in water than in air.
It's really speed dependent, at the correct altitude and RPM propellers can be 85+% efficient in air. Also, while boats can get 'free' lift in water at speed your much better off with a wing aka hydrofoil because drag is one of those nasty velocity^3 things that quickly dominates.
So while a 2mph sub is more energy efficent than a 200mph aircraft the sub is rather impractical even pushing the sub to 20mph means the aircraft wins.
Elon Musk can do anything i am waiting for the day when Elon Musk launch Robots like Pacific Rim and transformers. Initially i don know about this person but one of my friend inform me about Tesla,space x and Elon Musk. I got surprised and think that what i am doing or others are doing. From that day Elon Musk name give me Positive boost. You can do it sir.
We are waiting...
Sarcos had the technology for full-body haptic feedback harnesses of the type that were somewhat portrayed in Pacific Rim, and they had this in the 90's, if I recall correctly. DARPA had arm/shoulder/head haptic feedback projects even back in the 70's and 80's.
The problem is that the human form factor is quite complex, and it will always be cheaper to make a simpler specialized tool. Humans are scary good at controlling things, even without haptic feedback.
Transformers: Just physically impossible for anything more functional than a movie prop. (Ok, maybe Monster Truck rallies.)
I wonder if Elon actually has the resources to make a functional dry submarine car with capabilities as portrayed in the movie? With some consulting from marine engineers, his people could probably fabricate such a prototype out of aluminum. He and his companies probably couldn't afford to take the resources away from R&D to actually do this, however.
Top Gear made their submarine car Lotus, but it was considerably compromised as both a car and a submarine. Can't really be debonair when a stream of water is squirting onto your tuxedo trousers. It only held water out of the cockpit by having air pumped in at a high rate.
Spaceship, submarine car... has anyone heard anything about Musk planning orbital laser weapons, by any chance? It would be the next logical super villain move.
If he starts cloning Persian cats we have to be really worried - Btw is it true that space X employees have color coded jumpsuits and hard hats as uniforms :-)
From the article: "It's a so-called wet submarine, meaning that it fills with water when submerged, so the driver has to wear a wetsuit and breathe air from a tank. (The dry passenger compartment shown in the movie was a set.)"
This can be used to cross the Bay without bridges, ferries, or BART. Between Tesla cars, the hyperloop, and this, perhaps he is solving Silicon Valley's transportation troubles after all.
When are we finally going to admit that this guy is a real life bond villain? We need to stop him before he relocates to a volcano lair and threatens the earth with a space-based laser beam.
Another example of the media stuffing the mythology of Elon until it's as fat as a Thanksgiving turkey.
Then, when he falls out of favour with the press, they'll eat him alive.
All these bogus stories of Elon the superhuman mega genius aren't good for him in the long run. He can't live up to it and he shouldn't play up to it. He's being set up.
EDIT: Paradoxically, I think it's about time an Engineer gets treated like a star. He's a great role model for kids.
So, the title is false. Or at best, misleading. He is going to take a james bond movie prop and get it wet. He is not going to make [the] "james bond submarine car" a reality. This is somehow increasingly typical of Tesla stories that make it on HN.