Funny. The article says investors were looking for a lower priced vehicle.
Instead they got a "cybercab" that has an outline suspiciously similar to Model 2 concept drawings from China.
And also this cybercab also happens to be impractical for ridesharing dimension-wise, but would've slotted directly where the Model 2 would've been had that car been released.
Basically they took the steering wheel off the Model 2, came up with a demo, and had a bunch of dudes wearing Oculus headsets remote controlling a bunch of robots.
Scoble can be heard in the video asking one of the robots, “Hey Optimus, how much of you is AI?”
The robot, or whoever was controlling it, seemed to scramble for an answer, saying “I can’t disclose just how much. That’s something you’ll have to find out later.”
“But some or none?” Scoble asked with a laugh.
“I would say, it might be some. I’m not going to confirm, but it might be some,” the robot responded.
Based on the performance of Tesla stock, it seems like their demos are their product, rather than their cars. Investors have bought Tesla stock based on hype and promises of future performance, rather than actual company fundamentals. You can only distract people for so long with grand promises for the future.
The problem is that the fundamentals aren’t amazing. Tesla is getting its butt kicked in China (world’s biggest auto market) and tariffs are the only thing stopping BYD and Nio from taking a huge bite out of Tesla. Tesla has essentially saturated the “has a place to charge and $35k+ for a new car” market in the US. The sub $20k market is up for grabs. And US protectionism won’t save Tesla in other countries’ markets.
Tesla cars are fine, but [even after today] the stock is still way overpriced compared to other manufacturers. The previous explanation was some handwaving about how autonomous-driving was super-valuable. After last night it is mor clear than ever that Tesla autonomous driving is a running joke that not funny. I'd love to have a real competitor to Waymo, but everyone else is [at best] 5 years behind.
I don't understand this "car parks will no longer be needed" vision. Is the idea that everyone will use ride sharing to go everywhere? Because that's not going to happen.
The idea is that if enough people use ride sharing, the total number of cars needed will decrease, therefore, the needed space to put those cars will decrease. It doesnt necessarily require that everyone use it, but its about reducing the total number of cars necessary. If the density of these cars are sufficiently high, I can see a world where not owning a car is more convenient than owning one (if it isnt cost prohibitive).
This was the claim of ride-sharing about 10 years ago but studies showed the opposite, that it actually increased congestion.
Clean, effective, prompt, affordable, quickly constructed mass transit however, does seem to work.
I'm not anti-robo-taxi or pro-mass-transit. Instead, if the value is fewer cars and less carparks, mass transit with the aforementioned properties has been shown to work.
Sadly the United States has been unable to hit those notes with their projects (LA's metro, for example, is still constructing approximately the Prop A system approved by voters, in 1980, 44 years ago: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Lo...) so in that specific case, it's murkier.
Battery swap and back on the road. Obviously moving to this model would require changing conventional thinking. Cars don’t need to be parked, just like an IP address doesn’t need to “rest”. It’s just a pool of resources.
For starters, the average car is in use for less than an hour a day. With autonomous cars, it should be possible to raise this considerably - ie fewer cars standing around most of the day.
It seems to me that the average car is in use about the same hours of the day that all the other cars are in use, in front of me during my daily commute and clogging the roadways out of town on Friday afternoon
Owning a car and ride sharing are not even in the same category, unless you're of the opinion that the only purpose of a car is to get someone from A to B.
This event feels like Tesla has lost its product sense completely. A two seater taxi? Seriously? What about families with kids? Doors that open out and up - what about all the right spaces in cities where you need to open a car door? Look at minivans or London cabs for taxi design, not two seaters.
Then there is the whole: any tesla can be a part of the fleet, then only extra paid FSD teslas can be part of the fleet, and now no-wheel nobody-wants-this-mobiles bait and switch. Investors ought to be upset. This was a shot from the hip instead of proper innovation.
Elon overpromising and underdelivering is finally starting to catch up to him. I'm amazed it has lasted this long. The whole FSD and their false advertising, and the danger it has put people in should have been illegal.
I'm a huge fan of SpaceX but Tesla is another matter.
Gwynne Shotwell promised p2p starship travel. If you want to talk about over promise under deliver, this is straight up vaporware and will never ever happen.
Their list of cities include Zürich Switzerland. If you launch a rocket of that size on Zürich lake you will blow out every window in the city...
What baffles me is, well, did anyone really think they were going to release something? Really? I mean, clearly, yes, some people did, hence the price movement, but _why_?
A price movement doesn't have to mean that anyone expected something better. Tesla's beaten expectations before, so I think a reasonable person could have assigned a 10% chance that they would announce something genuinely game-changing, and a 10% chance is still priced higher than a known 0.
Right, this demo was supposed to show the future, but instead it showed the present. It would have been better for the stock if Elon hadn't done anything. "A year away".
first of all this stock has been highly manipulated ever since the "funding secured" tweet. the stock price cannot be taken seriously either direction.
Readit News
Basically they took the steering wheel off the Model 2, came up with a demo, and had a bunch of dudes wearing Oculus headsets remote controlling a bunch of robots.
Scoble can be heard in the video asking one of the robots, “Hey Optimus, how much of you is AI?”
The robot, or whoever was controlling it, seemed to scramble for an answer, saying “I can’t disclose just how much. That’s something you’ll have to find out later.”
“But some or none?” Scoble asked with a laugh.
“I would say, it might be some. I’m not going to confirm, but it might be some,” the robot responded.
The problem is that the fundamentals aren’t amazing. Tesla is getting its butt kicked in China (world’s biggest auto market) and tariffs are the only thing stopping BYD and Nio from taking a huge bite out of Tesla. Tesla has essentially saturated the “has a place to charge and $35k+ for a new car” market in the US. The sub $20k market is up for grabs. And US protectionism won’t save Tesla in other countries’ markets.
Clean, effective, prompt, affordable, quickly constructed mass transit however, does seem to work.
I'm not anti-robo-taxi or pro-mass-transit. Instead, if the value is fewer cars and less carparks, mass transit with the aforementioned properties has been shown to work.
Sadly the United States has been unable to hit those notes with their projects (LA's metro, for example, is still constructing approximately the Prop A system approved by voters, in 1980, 44 years ago: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Lo...) so in that specific case, it's murkier.
Where do those cars go to charge outside peak demand?
Then there is the whole: any tesla can be a part of the fleet, then only extra paid FSD teslas can be part of the fleet, and now no-wheel nobody-wants-this-mobiles bait and switch. Investors ought to be upset. This was a shot from the hip instead of proper innovation.
Maybe they should put together a “demo” of faster-than-light travel next. This was closer to ideation.
I'm a huge fan of SpaceX but Tesla is another matter.
> I'm a huge fan of SpaceX but Tesla is another matter.
The competency and skill of Gwynne Shotwell cannot be overstated.
I don't want to be that cynical. I want to drive a car that is all torque and no fumes.
I mean, the "Cybercabs", THEY DON'T HAVE CONTROLS. Where is that going to be legal in 2-3 years?
Their list of cities include Zürich Switzerland. If you launch a rocket of that size on Zürich lake you will blow out every window in the city...