Tesla is poised to add yet more entertainment options for owners of its electric vehicles, with CEO Elon Musk confirming that Netflix and YouTube streaming will soon be enabled on its generously-sized in-car displays.
The notion of bringing the video streaming services to Tesla's displays has been in the works for a while, with Musk touching on the idea when announcing the arrival of classic Atari games like Pole Position and Missile Command in August last year.
The CEO again teased the feature at last month's E3 conference when it emerged that Tesla owners would also be able to play Fallout Shelter. These games can only be accessed when the car is stationary, and the same will apply to the forthcoming streaming services, for obvious reasons.
"Ability to stream YouTube & Netflix when car is stopped coming to your Tesla soon! Has an amazingly immersive, cinematic feel due to the comfy seats & surround sound audio," Musk tweeted.
The CEO expanded on this in a follow up tweet, stating, "When full self-driving is approved by regulators, we will enable video while moving."
Combined with Tesla's other plans for its self-driving cars, this paints a pretty interesting picture of a fully autonomous future. The company imagines that when these cars become capable, they will be able to effectively serve as self-driving taxis while their owners are out during the day. Others in need of a ride would be able to hail them via an app, sit back and fire up their favorite Netflix series en route to the destination.
This autonomy is as important a factor as any in Tesla's plans, with Musk previously stating that these robo-taxis could turn it into a US$500-billon company. It has also said that it expects this autonomous technology to be fully feature complete by year's end, though that does appear pretty optimistic. For now, Tesla stresses that a driver's hands must remain on the wheel at all times.
Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)
