69 pointsby TheAlchemist13 days ago13 comments
  • mullingitover13 days ago
    I don't think actual unsupervised robotaxis exist, given the reports that they're just having the supervisor follow in a chase car[1].

    [1] https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/car-following-tesla-...

    • 1970-01-0113 days ago
      It's possible that they tried it and pulled the plug due to an unforeseen issue. In other words, it doesn't exist, but it did for a few hours, and will return. There's no way Elon would admit this publicly.
    • SilverElfin13 days ago
      Thank you - that’s what I was wondering. I noticed that Elon and others who were talking about how Robotaxis have improved, were saying something like ‘there is no safety driver’. They didn’t just say flat out that it is autonomous. I wonder if all that’s happened, is that they have a remote operator. I simply can’t believe the claims that FSD is anywhere near what Waymo can do.
      • iknowstuff13 days ago
        You can test drive it and see for yourself. No need to believe anything. But of course whatever safety threshold they have, they haven’t met it yet if they’re still supervising.
  • gerdesj13 days ago
    Maintaining a meme stock is hard, really hard. You do have to hand it to the bloke that he is working hard on this.

    Back in the day, the term "snake oil salesman" was used and it is as fresh today as it always was.

    • netsharc13 days ago
      We should update that term to "driverless car salesman"...
      • UltraSane13 days ago
        How about just "Elon Musk"
    • technothrasher13 days ago
      Back in the day, snake oil salesmen weren't seen as frauds (the actual health benefits of snake oil, or lack thereof, is another discussion). It wasn't until after 1916, when Stanley's Snake Oil was discovered to not actually contain any snake oil, that the term came to be associated with fraudulent selling.
  • culi13 days ago
    There are only around 50[0] unique vehicles operating in Austin (not all operating at the same time) and initially only about 3 are operating "with no safety monitor in the car." Based on social media posts it seems they all have chaser vehicles.

    [0] https://robotaxitracker.com

  • yalogin13 days ago
    No amount of failed promises, missed deadlines or just plain lies is going to dampen the stock, it’s just the way it is with this. Staying away is the best one can do.
  • AndrewKemendo13 days ago
    There’s no consequences to Musk not delivering and simply making up bullshit.

    I just saw a LinkedIn post from someone totally unrelated to Musk, or Tesla fawning about how amazing the Tesla Optimus robots are, how they are going to operate in space and how he would prefer one to give him surgery over a doctor.

    100s of positive interactions followed

    Humans seem to need some fiction to believe to get them through their day.

    So as long as people don’t demand that reality is the driver of their future they will continue to live in whatever fantasy world that makes them the main character

    • xnx13 days ago
      > 100s of positive interactions followed

      Sounds like Optimus is already very active on X

    • gerdesj13 days ago
      I'd go easy on LinkedIn. It sounds like it is getting to you.
      • AndrewKemendo13 days ago
        Yeah no doubt, It’s soooo bad

        I was able to stay off it for so long, but I just had to get back on since I changed roles to CTO and its a whole marketing channel I have to use. That place is trash

        Hopefully I can outsource that soon

    • ks204813 days ago
      > Humans seem to need some fiction to believe to get them through their day.

      I think it's more that they want their stock values to stay high (or are simply bots with the same goal).

    • yoyohello1313 days ago
      > Humans seem to need some fiction to believe to get them through their day.

      Used to be religion. Now it’s billionaire saviors.

      • SilverElfin13 days ago
        I’ve noticed that has spread from blue collar Americans to everyone now. Like the comment sections on All In podcast’s YouTube videos. Basically worship of billionaires who are in turn MAGA sycophants worshipping Trump. Meanwhile no one cares that the trillions this administration is spending will lead to huge inflation to pay off debt. We will be made poor so billionaires can get a bigger number next to the B.
  • misiti378013 days ago
    JerryRigEverything randomly started dissing Tesla's FSD system two days before he posts a sponsored video for Ford's self-driving feature.
  • t1234s13 days ago
    It's probably a good thing they are doing this ultra-conservative rollout of robotaxi.
    • UltraSane13 days ago
      A rate of 0 is not actually a rollout
  • leoh13 days ago
    HN is so fucked at this point. For the last year at least, anything critical of elon gets flagged.
  • WhyNotHugo13 days ago
    Just 9 to 12 months guys!
  • maximinus_thrax13 days ago
    And yet TSLA sits comfortably at ~$450. If someone knowledgeable can explain this to me, I'd be very grateful.
    • culi13 days ago
      It's better to think of tesla as an MIC company than a typical auto manufacturer (indeed the auto industry has always held a tight, symbiotic, and often mandatory link with the military).

      Tesla's domestic EV manufacturing, Starlink's satellite network, and ofc SpaceX are all critical pieces of American foreign policy. It should be obvious why Tesla is one of the most heavily subsidized companies of all time[0]

      [0] https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/tesla-inc

      • maximinus_thrax13 days ago
        I don't really understand why Tesla is part of the MIC. They don't do anything for the military and has no strategic value. In terms of foreign policy, considering the US has soft-power due to Tesla, the company continues to under perform year-by-year while European and Chinese companies are gaining market share.

        I am not a fan of Elon Musk, I've been skeptical of his accomplishments way before his involvement in politics so I may be a little biased. But it seems to me that Tesla is a failure. The last new model launched was a flop and a subject of general ridicule, they've stopped innovating, the existing models are last in reliability scores and no promises were kept wrt to self-driving, robotaxis, hyperloop or whatever other sci-fi scam was talked about at every shareholder meeting.

        I really don't understand how in other areas (such as Enterprise AI or cloud computing in the past) investors want to see actual growth and huge returns and they threaten to pull their money constantly. But when it comes to Tesla in particular, the company keeps getting years and years of leeway while it's failing and failing.

        Perhaps the hope is that it will get nationalized or be in some sort of public-private partnership that would ensure perpetual bailouts and it's just a way of sucking off money from the taxpayer?

    • anonymous90821313 days ago
      Purchasing TSLA is placing a bet that Elon Musk can generate enough hype such that somebody else will purchase TSLA from you at a higher price later.
    • UltraSane13 days ago
      People are VERY gullible.
    • kibwen13 days ago
      > explain this to me

      Humans are the same emotional, irrational apes as we were 100,000 years ago, and the most emotional and irrational thing any of us do, bar none, is delude ourselves by pretending that we aren't.

      • salawat13 days ago
        I'd argue we're too rational and not irrational enough. If we were sufficiently irrational, the first time Musk-rat lied, everyone woulda bailed. It takes a thoroughly motivated rationality to cling to the hopes of promises that won't ever be kept.
    • Lermatroid13 days ago
      The market is now a casino is how
  • bayarearefugee13 days ago
    This should not be surprising to anyone who pays any attention to Elon Musk's ̶l̶i̶e̶s̶ , er... "predictions"
    • bickfordb13 days ago
      You mean pump and dump fraud
  • tstrimple13 days ago
    Flagged again by right wing chuds who have to defend anything Elon, Trump or White Supremacy. This site is a joke.
  • sergiotapia13 days ago
    oh christ this guy again