Robotic Charging

I know we've talked about induction charging, and we can already set time of day charging from the screen, but is there a reason that Tesla (or iRobot) can't offer robotic charging? Lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners have been able to dock and charge themselves for years now, why not Model S/X? Pull into your garage, sensors go to work, a few seconds later you're charging. Could be a separate docking port down low on the car so we don't have to imagine a charmed python charge cable that defies gravity. As usual, Tesla could make it an extra and charge for it - win all around.

scaesare said:

In the Robotic Autoplug thread, this pic was posted of something being shown by Rinspeed:
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I get a little nervous about something that may be top heavy. I was thinking something more roomba-like that would access a charge port on the bottom part of the car. But this is the direction I imagined.

jerry33 said:

I guess the question is: "Why add the extra complexity?". Plugging in manually seems simple. Inductive charging would be okay if the losses weren't so high. I've tried the robotic vacuums, and basically gave up on them. Often as not you have to carry the vacuum back to the charger and manually mate it with the charger. Doing the same with the Model S might be a bit harder.

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I'm not a robotics engineer, but autonomous driving seems harder than autonomous charging, so I think it's possible. Maybe not you, maybe not me, but many people like a 'set it and forget it' mentality. If plugging in inside your garage is better/easier for many people than going to a gas station for a fill up, I'll argue pulling into your garage (or having the car autonomously pull in for you!) and having the charge just happen is better/easier for many people than plugging in.

AmpedRealtor said:

More to break. More for Tesla to service and repair. No thanks.

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Lots of people will think this and won't want it. Just like lots don't want a pano roof, air suspension, bigger battery, 21" wheels, power liftgate, etc. Which also means a lot of people will want it, and Tesla makes a lot of $ off those folks. I'd be surprised if this didn't happen in a foreseeable future.