It’s hard to believe that it has been only six years since Elon Musk first made headlines with his plans to send people to Mars. In the short time since then, he has become a household name and one of the most respected businessmen in the world. On top of being the father of seven children! So what is he up to now? And more importantly, what is he planning for the future? Here are some of the most exciting things that Musk is working on in 2022.
Tesla
After an insane year with his car company Tesla, which profited 5.5 billion dollars in 2021, Elon has no plans of slowing down! In 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his team would be “surprised” if it didn’t achieve full self-driving. This would allow Tesla to convert most of its current vehicles into self-driving robotaxis with a software upgrade. “It’s like the most significant software upgrade in history,” said the CEO, who just raised the price of this software to $12,000. While Musk’s track record with FSD has been wildly unrealistic in the past, many experts doubt that existing Teslas can ever achieve true autonomy without substantial hardware upgrades. There was, however, a hint more substance to this claim this time. As of the publication date, there were 60,000 automobiles on U.S. roads utilizing the most recent FSD beta software, up from a couple of hundred in Q3 in 2021. Other things to expect from Elon’s high-tech car company in 2022 include continuing work on the “Cyber Truck.” The electric pickup, which Musk extols for seeming like it was created by “aliens from the future,” has yet to arrive. Despite recent photographs indicating that it is on its way toward becoming a series-production model, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle’s financial viability was an issue. He has been said to be concerned about making the cyber truck more affordable and that with all the new technology in the cyber truck, that will take some time to figure it out. Even a forthcoming debut in the first quarter of 2023 is already looking a bit far-fetched.
Space X
Maybe the most exciting thing Musk has a hand in is his space technology company, Space X. After an impressive 31 space launches in 2021, Elon has set the bar even higher for 2022. He has stated that the company has plans to launch 52 times this year! A high goal to reach, but his company has already had four launches as of the beginning of February! SpaceX is a major collaborator with NASA in human spaceflight. The firm is in charge of transporting NASA astronauts and freight to and from the International Space Station using its Crew Dragon vehicle. SpaceX is also hard at work on a next-generation rocket system, dubbed Starship, to land humans on the Moon for NASA’s Artemis mission. In December 2021, Musk revealed via Twitter that SpaceX is “starting a project to remove carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and convert it into rocket fuel.” The announcement is more of a vision than a plan. Still, it follows less than a year after Musk’s charitable foundation announced an XPrize Foundation competition to award $100 million to students, researchers, and entrepreneurs with ideas for carbon removal technologies that could potentially offset the impact of climate change.
