by Gail Alfar, Austin, Texas
“I think it’s our best product, I think it’s the most unique on the road. And finally, the future will look like the future.” – Elon Musk
Syd Mead, the artistic director behind Blade Runner (1982), watched the Nov 2019 Cybertruck unveiling and commented that Tesla’s new Cybertruck “has completely changed the vocabulary of the personal truck market design.”
Syd Mead passed away in Dec 2019. He was a visual futurist and if he was alive he would have been thrilled to see Cybertruck in production changing how people think of the personal truck market!
I was in the audience at the Cybertruck Delivery event when Elon Musk stood on the bed of the Cybertruck. The lighting, music, and gritty, dark atmosphere made me feel immersed in a Syd Mead-style “Blade Runner” movie set.
Elon Musk stood, surrounded by light and shadow, said,
“Once in a while, a product comes along that is rare, that is, once every 5 to 10 years something really special, an unusual product comes along and we will remember those special moments when some rare, very rare product comes along that is seemingly impossible. That people said was impossible, that experts said was impossible, and this is one of those times. we have a car here that experts said was impossible, that experts said would never be made.” – Elon Musk
THEY SAID IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE!
Chief designer of the Lotus, Ben Payne, said Cybertruck’s unusual design makes it “very hard to mass produce.”
Adrian Clarke, a professional car designer was convinced that “Vehicles always have an amount of curves in them because they have to be able to hold the shape when the part comes out of the press. But if you have a dead flat panel, it doesn’t work. It’s going to vibrate and they’re going to have massive problems stamping those panels and having them keep their shape.”
Raj Rajkumar, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, said that Cybertruck material does not “provide flexibility, which is critical for vehicles during an accident and will require special welding techniques.”
Thankfully, these experts were wrong. For context, trucks have had the same classic boxy look for close to 100 years. Ever since the Ford Model T Runabout was sold in 1925, the look has been similar. Cybertruck breaks this trend. In 2019, the late Syd Mead called the futuristic-looking Cybertruck design “stylistically breathtaking” and said it went beyond his expectations.
The Delivery Event Surpassed my Expectations too!
Surrounded by the sounds of the gigafactory, enveloped by the industrial feel of machines, robots, and computers, Elon continued,
“So what we’re aiming for here is something that’s more truck than truck. Yes, what we have here is something that is a better truck than a truck, while also being a better sports car than a sports car in the same package. First of all, you know you talk about how trucks are tough? That is one of the characteristics of a truck.”
Marques Brownlee said “It looks surreal, there is not a single curve on this entire truck. There are some surprising things about it, some really cool features, things that I think truck people are going to like!”
Elon explained how Tesla came up with a kind of stainless steel metal alloy that did not even exist before. Tesla had to design a new metal to make this truck. Tesla engineered A LOT of new technology to build this truck!
Although many may be joking about Tesla having the finest in apocalypse technology, it is actually true that the doors are bullet-resistant, the interior has bioweapon defense mode, and when it is wrapped in matte black, it’s going to be very difficult to trace in the dark of night!
“It’s insane. It’s a spaceship. Seeing it in real life is so f*cking cool, there’s something about photos — you’re not in context, you’re not physically there where you get to look at it. But when you’re physically there, this thing’s so f*cking cool.”- Joe Rogan
Our future is full of great technology and even better looking vehicles! We are entering an age where humanity returns to dreams of new futuristic imaginings. It takes the development of a futuristic design – CYBERTRUCK – to come to reality and come into production at scale for our present culture’s embers of imagination to spark the motivation to dream bigger.
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Images by the author taken at Cybertruck Delivery Event on Nov. 30. Syd Mead futuristic vehicles images Courtesy Syd Mead dot com.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author and podcaster is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
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