this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
218 points (97.0% liked)

News

23287 readers
3743 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Tesla's reveal of a robotaxi designed as a low-slung, two-seater, sporty coupe - quite the opposite of a typical taxi with room for several passengers and luggage - flummoxed investors and analysts.

But in true Musk style, he skipped over expectations of how a two-seater robotaxi would serve the needs of families headed to a restaurant or to the airport, or if he expected these to appeal only to a niche clientele.

Investors jeered the design and the lack of financial detail, with Tesla stocks tumbling 9% on Wall Street on Friday.

"When you think of a cab, you think of something that's going to carry more than two people," said Jonathan Elfalan, vehicle testing director for the automotive website Edmunds.com. "Making this a two-seat-only car is very perplexing."

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 62 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It looks like they were working on the new roadster and Elmo told them they were switching to a driverless cab.

If it were a sports car it would probably sell really well because it’s got the doors that open like this

[–] ThomasLadder_69@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Im gonna start calling him Elmo from now on haha.

[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 49 points 1 month ago (6 children)

On a related note...

Full Self Driving coming next year? Or the year after that? Or after that?

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Musk and “FSD is coming next year” is like Trump and “I only want to be dictator for a day”.

[–] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

More like his healthcare plan. Or his infrastructure plan

[–] Kadaj21@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Details will be shared in two weeks!

[–] pezhore@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

There are concepts of FSD.

[–] mondoman712@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago

In two years presumably. It's been two years away since 2015.

[–] breakingcups@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Yes. But also: No. Mostly no.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

What was his first prediction on that like 2015?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We'll have FSD as soon as we get those flying cars with AGI I've been told are a few years away my entire life.

Space colonies too.

[–] synae@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There are self driving waymo taxis in San Francisco, it is only a fiction for Musk

[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Those also use a combination of many different sensors to see the road around them, while Tesla stubbornly refuses to use anything except vision because that's how humans do it. Nevermind that even with our best AI models, we've never even approximated how the human brain works.

[–] synae@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, good reasons why his version will never come to market - which he is already late to. His lunch has been eaten, so to speak.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Along with what @Bassman1805 says, San Francisco has a small footprint and most of it is laid out in grids, making navigation easier.

Plus, it's not a problem-free implementation by any means.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/san-francisco-autonomous-vehicles-robotaxis-b2391158.html

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/san-francisco-neighbors-say-repeated-waymo-honking-is-keeping-them-up-at-night/3622181/

On top of that, it's way too easy to make them stop working. Not too easy for passengers, too easy for everyone else.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/26/1195695051/driverless-cars-san-francisco-waymo-cruise

[–] synae@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Unlike the other things you mentioned, full self driving taxis do exist, they are being rolled out in actual markets with customers, and despite the problems you mentioned they are safer than human drivers and overall have improved my life as a pedestrian (sorry, anecdote). It may not be the perfect generalized scifi version you have in your head that makes you compare it with flying cars or AGI, but it is here.

And, what - Musk's version won't have to overcome those problems?

He's years behind the competition in his own timeline, and as all the other commenters have pointed out he never even delivers according to that timeline.

Meanwhile he's announced a version of something that that already exists and is telling his customers and shareholders that in his best case scenario, he will be 3 years late to market - and it is a fast moving market, he falls further behind with every month that passes.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] blady_blah@lemmy.world 46 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The real problem that he failed to show any progress on self-driving. Self-driving has been 2 years away for the past 6 years and that's the only real thing that will pull Tesla out of a downward spiral. Tesla stock is stupidly overpriced and competitors are catching up.

With nothing but empty promises, people are starting to realize that the emperor has no clothes. And really, who wants to see Musk naked? ...that's a bag nobody wants to be left holding.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's been 1 year away every year, not 2

Waymo did it well when I was in Tempe, so it already exists. Tesla just wasn't putting quality hardware into it. The Jaguars were nice

[–] Zier@fedia.io 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'll take the bus, thanks. At least I will arrive alive at my destination.

[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But think of the opportunity cost here, you'd be wasting a chance to run over a child or a poor person!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It may only have 2 seats, but didn't they notice the tires are painted gold. That's an awesome design decision right there! /s
The 2 seats are probably meant to keep the death toll low. 😋

But if they thought the robotaxi was weird, that was nothing compared to the robovan. Almost no clearance and almost no windows, and then Musk exclaimed: Yes! We are gonna build it like that! It's siiick.

neither robo- taxi or van are likely to be moneymakers. They'll be a sinkhole of development cost, that will never come to market.

But more are probably finally catching on, with an event causing the stock to drop 9%.
It's kind of hilarious that Enron Musks attempt to pump the stock failed so bad. 😋

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 month ago

I can't wait for one of these to pull up with a puddle of vomit on the seat

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] actually@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In all fairness the critics simply have to get high on drugs to see the car as it was meant to be viewed.

It seems selfish they are not

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

How often do you think Elon drives while blasted out of his mind on ketamine? Because I bet it's a nonzero number.

[–] Steve@communick.news 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm sure he's imagining commuter clients using it to go to work every day on a subscription.

[–] DontMakeMoreBabies@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] frezik@midwest.social 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Interesting how this dumb thing has overshadowed SpaceX performing a chopstick landing for Starship. That's a major achievement that suggests SpaceX will meet its goals for Starship. If Elon had a lick of sense, he'd want that to be the top headline on all the feeds.

Instead, it's about this stupid taxi. If anyone thought Elon was still good at self promotion, this should kill it.

Oh, and he spent his after launch speech hawking a cryptocurrency scheme. So that's great. Anybody still want to go to Mars with this guy?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

He's been at the point for some time where he believes being "contrarian" is the same as being "smart".

[–] niemcycle@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Absolutely. The way he talks too, he uses this flowery, overly technical language you usually only use when talking to engineers or technical people. It's purely an attempt to confuse and sound smart, as any engineer worth their salt will tailor their language to their audience.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, so much so that engineers receive training on how and when to use jargon vs lay people terms. Like multiple classes go over this

[–] oakey66@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

That’s because Musk is a dunce.

[–] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 12 points 1 month ago

Seems like the minivan is really the right thing. Can share with multiple folks or have a significant amount of luggage for the airport or such. Easier to serve the handicapped.

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

What a fucking moron. Dude is so goddamn stupid that every decision he makes is the wrong one. And yet people keep defending him...

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

This unveiling is stupid for, like... uncountable reasons. But are people really regularly riding in cabs that fit more than two people comfortably? Unless I specifically request a bigger vehicle from a cab service, a car with a backseat is usually what I get.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I typically use a taxi/Uber on my way to an airport. I at least need room for my suitcase and laptop bag

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I think that is why the design choice, I think it has a larger trunk. Idk though

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I usually get the option of up to 4 people unless requested. You start with the two ends of the backseat, then person 3 gets passenger seat, and person 4 makes you really hope there’s someone short and skinny in your group

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Jagothaciv@kbin.earth 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Didn’t his mom say Leon was developmentally challenged in a twit post?

[–] Dainterhawk999@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

So darkly dark... Like mother like son

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Investors jeered the design and the lack of financial detail, with Tesla stocks tumbling 9% on Wall Street on Friday.

I didn't realize this stupid vehicle was a two-seater. What a dumbass move.

[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

When investors attempted to hail the cab it ignored them according to another post I saw yesterday.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 7 points 1 month ago

Stop supporting Elon

[–] rsuri@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To me it makes sense because without the driver, there's less need to maximize passengers per vehicle. Plus the added weight for the extra, often unused seats is a bigger problem for EVs because of the need to minimize weight (which then requires more heavy batteries). Generally the vast majority of taxi trips are one or two people, so you don't wanna make them any bigger than necessary. And if there's 4 people, they can just take 2.

The problem isn't the number of seats, it's that there's no plan for them to become actually self-driving.

[–] kerrigan778@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

EVs really don't have to minimize weight nearly as much as ICE cars. Regen is really powerful with a large battery and aerodynamics and rolling resistance is king at speed. And larger and heavier batteries are cheaper too.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Well they had to save room for all the safety features that are required for them to be remotely driven from North Korea.

load more comments
view more: next ›