Elon's Antics
- Thread starter Danoff
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- GBO-Possum
Actually since July 2016, if not earlier...
Master Plan, Part Deux
Elon Musk, July 20, 2016See link below, under "Sharing"...
...You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not.
In cities where demand exceeds the supply of customer-owned cars, Tesla will operate its own fleet, ensuring you can always hail a ride from us no matter where you are.
So here we are, nine years later, with Tesla sales stalled due to Musk's Antics ™, thousands of Teslas in unsold inventory, with Musk claiming that Tesla will have over a thousand driverless vehicles on the road “within a few months.” All they need to do is massively scale the control center, and hire thousands of "unsupervisors" to sit in the passenger seats.
Without the "unsupervisors", and the limitation of riders to vetted influencers, I can see Tesla's Robotaxis being summoned to their fiery deaths as recently happened to multiple Waymos.
EDIT:
More reading...
Tesla’s robotaxi is live: here are some of the first reactions
What does “unsupervised” really mean, anyway?
www.theverge.com
ANOTHER EDIT:
Elon's autonomy claims, an incomplete list...
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- 89,012
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
That was just ride-sharing, with or without the owner of the car and leveraging the still vaporiffic FSD. What would become "Robotaxi" - a fully autonomous vehicle not necessarily owned by private customers - was first mooted in 2019:
Tesla's Elon Musk expects 'robotaxis' to start in US next year
The electric carmaker entrepreneur makes a new promise on driverless vehicles.
www.bbc.co.uk
Cybercab, which was basically the Robotaxi idea as an actual car, was unveiled in October 2024. And of course the Robotaxi is now not that, but geofenced "FSD" Model Xs with a human on board, in a single area of a city where Waymo already operates actually driverless cars (and over a broader area of that city too)...
- 3,347
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
Surely Tesla operating its own fleet (which is what it is doing today, AND is calling it "Robotaxi") is not "ride-sharing".
- 89,012
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Sure when it's not an end-consumer's vehicle and they're not necessarily in it ("ride-sharing" is more "jumping into someone else's car 'cos they're going that way", like carpooling, but reinvented to mean "taxis but not actually licensed taxis") but that's still just private cars only with Tesla operating them when there's not enough actual customers owning them (and likely defleeting them for private sale as cars after the usual 3-5 years).
An actual vehicle purely intended to be an autonomous (never human driven) vehicle for hailing and bailing - a FSD, driverless taxi - and specifically the term "robotaxi", was first floated by Musk at an investor day in 2019. I guess because he realised that nobody wants to let someone else call their car over for them to use (even passengers suck) and decided to invent Waymo.
Funnily enough, most onlookers didn't think he meant a fully autonomous vehicle but the earlier ride-sharing thing as he said something dim about having a million Robotaxis on the road by 2020 (the following year) and nobody thought that he was actually talking about new cars but something to do with updating old cars for the task.
- 3,347
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
The link below should start at the 7 minute mark.
The car moves to the left turn lane, intending to turn left at the lights, gets into the intersection, seems to get confused, zigs and zags eventually aborting the left turn, drives on the wrong side of the double yellow lines for a while until it gets back in its place.
Fortunately, no cars were oncoming at the time.
I was amazed that nobody spoke. That took some serious discipline from the Tesla employee and the Tesla YouTube influencer.
A little earlier, the Tesla employee can be seen giving a thumbs up, (presumably for the interior camera). I didn't see a thumbs down when it was driving on the wrong side of the road 😂
The car moves to the left turn lane, intending to turn left at the lights, gets into the intersection, seems to get confused, zigs and zags eventually aborting the left turn, drives on the wrong side of the double yellow lines for a while until it gets back in its place.
Fortunately, no cars were oncoming at the time.
I was amazed that nobody spoke. That took some serious discipline from the Tesla employee and the Tesla YouTube influencer.
A little earlier, the Tesla employee can be seen giving a thumbs up, (presumably for the interior camera). I didn't see a thumbs down when it was driving on the wrong side of the road 😂
- 3,347
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
In yet another Elon Antic™, Elon has been threatening to sue former advertisers to come back to Twitter/X to force them to resume spending on Xitter.
And it's working.
Linda Yaccarino is denying the whole scandal of course
Good investigative journalism by the despicable WSJ.
And it's working.
Linda Yaccarino is denying the whole scandal of course
Good investigative journalism by the despicable WSJ.
- 21,503
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- Blitzbay
This is not new news. He's been doing this for at least the past 18 months.
- 3,347
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
Musk's "Robotaxi" DID pump the TSLA stock. Briefly...
BTW, did you see the Tesla fan boys recording their Robotaxi telling them to disembark in an intersection?
They asked it for an "early drop-off", then the Robotaxi was "looking for a safe location to stop", which was out there in the intersection 😂
It got "stuck" out there in no-mans-land for about a minute before the remote operators got it moving again.
I'll post screen grabs after the chart.
Here's the fun part of the video...
BTW, did you see the Tesla fan boys recording their Robotaxi telling them to disembark in an intersection?
They asked it for an "early drop-off", then the Robotaxi was "looking for a safe location to stop", which was out there in the intersection 😂
It got "stuck" out there in no-mans-land for about a minute before the remote operators got it moving again.
I'll post screen grabs after the chart.
Here's the fun part of the video...
- 89,012
- Rule 12
- GTP_Famine
Speaking of remote operators...
Robotaxi operations room:
- 3,347
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
Elon Musk claims that Teslas can become autonomous while relying on cameras alone, and citing the "high costs"of lidar, radar and sonar.
Tesla fan boys support Elon by quoting the high costs (~$250K?) of Waymo's robotaxis which use these technologies on Jaguar I-Pace EVs
Meanwhile, Xaomi (a massive Chinese cell-phone manufacturer which has been shipping EVs for less than 2 years) is now selling their YU7 EV for 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD)
From the article below
"Xiaomi has packed the YU7 with an impressive ADAS hardware suite that includes one roof-mounted LiDAR with a 200-metre (660 ft) range, one 4D mmWave radar, 11 cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, and uses an Nvidia DRIVE AGX Thor-U chip capable of 700 TOPS."
The base model Xaomi YU7 has 20% more battery capacity than my Tesla Model Y Long Range which only has 7 external cameras.
Their stated goal is to take over the part of the market occupied by Tesla Models Y and 3.
electrek.co
Tesla fan boys support Elon by quoting the high costs (~$250K?) of Waymo's robotaxis which use these technologies on Jaguar I-Pace EVs
Meanwhile, Xaomi (a massive Chinese cell-phone manufacturer which has been shipping EVs for less than 2 years) is now selling their YU7 EV for 253,500 RMB (equivalent to $35,300 USD)
From the article below
"Xiaomi has packed the YU7 with an impressive ADAS hardware suite that includes one roof-mounted LiDAR with a 200-metre (660 ft) range, one 4D mmWave radar, 11 cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors, and uses an Nvidia DRIVE AGX Thor-U chip capable of 700 TOPS."
The base model Xaomi YU7 has 20% more battery capacity than my Tesla Model Y Long Range which only has 7 external cameras.
Their stated goal is to take over the part of the market occupied by Tesla Models Y and 3.
Xiaomi YU7 first drive: a $35,000 Ferrari-looking electric SUV with over 400 miles of real range
I had the chance to test drive the Xiaomi YU7 ahead of its launch today in China, and I came...
electrek.co
FPV MIC
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- GT-MIC
Even my robotic vacuum has lidar. 
- 842
- Texas
- brickhole
I wouldn’t use Chinese auto mfg numbers to try to prove anything . They subsidize the hell out of their auto industry.
www.thedrive.com
China Is Dumping 0-Mile 'Used' Cars Worldwide to Control Huge Oversupply
China's government is subsidizing domestic automakers who ship zero-mile 'used' cars elsewhere for sale.
www.thedrive.com
Danoff
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Skepticism over new car manufactures is always warranted. However, if you look at the big picture, MAGA and Trump is a symptom of, largely China, outperforming American companies. So I would not be surprised to see China take a worldwide lead on car manufacturing. They lead the world in many other kinds of manufacturing already. Whether that's all through legitimate practices is of course up for consideration.I wouldn’t use Chinese auto mfg numbers to try to prove anything . They subsidize the hell out of their auto industry.
China Is Dumping 0-Mile 'Used' Cars Worldwide to Control Huge Oversupply
China's government is subsidizing domestic automakers who ship zero-mile 'used' cars elsewhere for sale.
- 842
- Texas
- brickhole
My argument is that the price of the chinese car is probably artificially low.
also not saying that elon's exploits aren't subsidized.
just that comparing their numbers to tesla's isnt apples to apples imo
speaking of camera's i try to cover my and my childs face as i approach any tesla.... i hate all the voyeurs of this world between ring cams and teslas, i don't want that guy to have any of my biometrics, even though im sure its too late.
Danoff
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What are you afraid is going to happen if you don't cover your face?
For grins, please tell me you weren't willing to wear a mask during the pandemic.
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- brickhole
Danoff
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Ok, but let's go down this rabbit hole for a second. What do you think is going to happen based on images of you recorded by parked Teslas that you passed unknowingly? I'm curious to understand what you're worried about.
- 842
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- brickhole
Afraid isn’t exactly right. I understand the world I live in today.
But I didn’t ask for my picture to be taken or recorded or stored by a company I do not wish to support. Especially when that company is attached to Elon. It’s more of a “f you” to the company why I do it than a fear.
If I look up at the grocery story and see it recording me to pull my hat low and don’t look up.
I know it sounds silly but it’s not like all this surveillance has stopped anyone from doing heinous crimes.
Why am I not allowed privacy? I’m just getting into my car, taking a walk down the street or buying some groceries.
But I didn’t ask for my picture to be taken or recorded or stored by a company I do not wish to support. Especially when that company is attached to Elon. It’s more of a “f you” to the company why I do it than a fear.
If I look up at the grocery story and see it recording me to pull my hat low and don’t look up.
I know it sounds silly but it’s not like all this surveillance has stopped anyone from doing heinous crimes.
Why am I not allowed privacy? I’m just getting into my car, taking a walk down the street or buying some groceries.
Danoff
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Well the easy answer is that you're in public and there are good reasons to record you - for the purpose of catching criminals or dissuading people from committing crimes, and for the purpose of autonomously detecting nearby vehicles or other threats. So it's not like the answer to your question "why am I not allowed privacy [in public]" is just "no reason at all". There are good reasons. You just think those good reasons are outweighed by your desire for privacy.
If it truly is just a middle finger to Elon and whoever is reviewing grocery store security footage, I would suggest that you're actually just wasting your own time and energy and not really accomplishing what you think you're accomplishing by hiding your face. Nobody with any of those cameras cares at all what you did. You didn't mess with them at all.
But I suspect it's something else. I suspect that somehow you feel that you have a right to privacy while in public. And while I'm not entirely unsympathetic to that notion, I'm also really not sure what rationale you use to arrive at that conclusion. When you're in a grocery store, you're literally on someone else's property, permitted there by their rules, and doing so entirely voluntarily. I'm not sure how you can claim that you're entitled to have them not take an image of you. When you're in their parking lot walking next to a Tesla, I'm really unsure how your supposed notion of privacy is somehow more important than their property rights over their vehicle.
Now, I'll stick by your rights to cover your face in public, but I'm really not sure what you think you're accomplishing or why you think someone else isn't permitted a camera on their property.
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- 842
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- brickhole
Oh. You are 100% correct. If I was really AFRAID, I probably wouldn’t be updating this post with my iPhone on a site that I logged into using my email address that has my first and last name in it. And display my current state of residence.
I think my issue is the whole notion of “well if you’re not doing anything wrong???” when it comes to the surveillance of everything. Because much like our (americas) current govt shows laws can change real fast and anything might be that thing you did wrong one day. And I just don’t like that. I get and agree with what you are saying and was definitely being extreme in my initial comment. But for rabbit holes sake. That’s what I’ll lean on.
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