Elon Musk enlists a nerd army for a Tesla Model 3 production hackathon
The Tesla CEO announced via Twitter that he's attempting a hackathon to solve two large automation-related bottlenecks on the Model 3 line.
The ever-vexing problem of figuring out how to build the Tesla Model 3 at scale is apparently offering Elon Musk and his crew more challenges than they can handle. As such, the company has resorted to a "Hackathon" to help get itself over the hump and out of production hell.
What's a hackathon? Well, essentially it's when a bunch of programmers, subject matter experts, designers, engineers and the like get together for a set period to collaborate intensively on solving a specific problem or set of problems.
The Tesla Model 3 hackathon is focused on solving problems with overly complicated automation on the production line. Musk initiated the event to remove the last roadblocks that are currently slowing production down.
Musk announced the hackathon in a tweet responding to criticism by Ars Technica that Tesla was making the same mistakes as traditional auto manufacturers in the 1980s. This is a little funny, given that Tesla's Fremont factory was once known as NUMMI and served as a joint production facility between Toyota and General Motors and was founded in 1984.
Fair criticism, but we’re fixing it fast. Hackathon going on right now to fix 2 worst robot production chokepoints. Looks promising.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2018
The success of this hackathon is critical if Tesla is to hit its goal of 5,000 Model 3's per week by the end of Q3, a target on which the future of the company may rest.
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