• maynarkh@feddit.nl
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    9 months ago

    Instead, Musk is allegedly “all in on robotaxi,”

    So instead of trying to compete with BYD, they are leaving that space open for Chinese domination, and instead they are trying to catch up to the Waymo-Uber-Lyft race where Tesla has not even tried to compete yet.

    To me, it just seems that Musk just doesn’t believe in market capitalism and competition. Or that he’s exceptionally terrible at it.

    • TrainsAreCool@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      I believe a huge chunk of Tesla’s valuation is based on their automation tech, despite having very little real success towards full automation. So they have to focus on that and try to prove they can deliver.

      But I’m guessing they won’t succeed, as there are fundamental flaws with the technology itself, that can’t be solved by throwing more sensors at the problem.

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        It seems their stock valuation rests on an assumption that their self-driving tech is unique, useful and best-of-class. I don’t see how they can benefit putting these claims to the test by trying to compete in the robotaxi market.

        • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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          9 months ago

          Their stock valuation rests entirely on large entities shorting the stock, and other large entities saying “I will take that bet!”. That’s pretty much it.

          • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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            9 months ago

            All stock valuation rests on like three entities making numbers up, that’s not the thing. The question is how long will Wall Street keep Musky boy on the nice list if he is becoming more and more visibly incompetent.

      • Claidheamh@slrpnk.net
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        9 months ago

        But can it be solved by throwing less sensors at the problem? Cause that’s what he’s been doing. Removing sensors from the newer versions that were in the older ones.

        • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Drop the cameras, add lidar instead. That’s true 3d vision, which no amount of cameras can replace.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          But people drive with just eyes, why can’t cars drive with just eyes? Someone in Tesla accountint probably…

          • G0ldenSp00n@lemmy.jacaranda.club
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            9 months ago

            Elon has literally said exactly this so many times. I think it is probably possible to make a car drive with just vision, but you make the task monumentally harder by not having things that ground you in reality, ie. lidar.

        • TrainsAreCool@lemmy.one
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          9 months ago

          Someone told them the problem was just “too many variables”, so they figured by taking away sensors, there are fewer variables. Therefore, better self-driving.

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        despite having very little real success towards full automation.

        Untill they released FSD Beta V12. The leap it took from the previous version is insane. It drives really good now.

        • TrainsAreCool@lemmy.one
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          9 months ago

          It’s still nowhere near any standard we should expect to trust this technology, which is a flawed solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.

          • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            40k people die on traffic accidents each year in the US alone, so I wouldn’t say there’s no problem to fix.

        • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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          9 months ago

          How does it compare to Waymo and Cruise? How many cities let driverless Teslas roam around? Those are the questions that will get asked from here on out, since they said they want to compete there.

          • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I don’t know anyone who makes videos about Waymo or Cruise on YouTube so I have no clue how it compares. That wasn’t my point. I’m only comparing current FSD beta to the previous versions of itself.

            CYBRLFT does ridesharing videos where he lets FSD beta do the driving and I believe the success rate with V12 has been over 90% that the car didn’t need any driver interference.

            • hansl@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Waymo and Cruise aim at no drivers. So “driver interference” is not even an option. And they’re already on the road in selected cities.

              I believe FSD is making great progress yes. They’re probably better than the competition (from car manufacturers’ equivalent). But I don’t think they’re working at the same level as Waymo. Just not.

              • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                In Tesla’s defence; their system works anywhere even when the road is not mapped, but these robo taxi services only do on selected geo-fenced areas. Atleast that’s my understanding of it. It’s conceiviable that what Tesla is doing by completely relying on neural nets is the right way to go where as the other with human programmes is a dead end. Only time will tell I guess. I’m not educated enough on Cruise and Waymo in general so I can’t really comment on that.

            • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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              9 months ago

              My point is that if they make something novel, which is a very good driver assist system for general use, it’s fine to compare it with previous versions of itself, since they might be market leaders there. But since Musk says they are trying to compete with the robotaxi companies, now every positive achievement will be compared to their competition, not themselves.

              I’m not saying Tesla is not getting better, or even how good it is, I’m just saying Musk just massively raised the bar on expectations, and not even in a way that would get their stock up substantially.

    • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      They’ll scream and cry for protectionist policy once they lose the lower end of the market. Musk has one superpower and it’s looting the public for his own benefit.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      nah the us is prohibiting chinese imports because they cant compete.

      i guess you guys just aint getting cheap evs

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        Not me, I see a bunch of Polestars already cruising around, and here Teslas are not even the most sold EV. Super cheap itty-bitty locally made EV “trucks” that are as big as a Smart are.

        And electric bikes I suppose.

  • BargsimBoyz@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    So Tesla’s entire strategy Elon was working was just abandoned.

    Continues down the pathway that Tesla is just going to fade to irrelevance.

    • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Judging by the amount of their vehicles I’m seeing on the roads I’m suspecting they’re going to fade into irrelevance like iPhones have.

      • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Its not a like for like comparison. People change car brands all the time, there is very little environment or peripherals to be tied to.

        • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          in fairness they did get their charging cord to be made the standard for North America. Not sure what power that confers them but it has to be worth something.

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It happened to Blackberry, everyone had one of those until iPhone came out. IBM used to be the most common PC brand. Everyone used to drive minivans. Markets shift all the time.

  • wjrii@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Probably couldn’t figure out a way to make the ‘2’ serve as a ‘Z’ in a 1337, sophomoric sex pun, so… that’s the end of that project.

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        I know he sucks but after feeling the acceleration of a model 3 I can’t agree with that. I’ve never felt acceleration like that before, or since.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          That’s all it takes for you? Get a motorcycle, all the acceleration you could ever want, at a fraction of the cost. You can go so fast it will feel as if time is slowing.

          • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            9 months ago

            Oh I’m still never buying a Tesla. I’m just saying no cars even CLOSE to 50kUSD have that kind of acceleration, much less 25k.

            That said, no motorcycle. I like being alive.

  • ctkatz@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    I wouldn’t buy one. good job. elon destroying your brand name.

  • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    China gonna dominate that price bracket and lower no need to enter a market you cant compete in

  • AlexisFR@jlai.lu
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    9 months ago

    Dammit, the idea of a Tesla Hatchback could have been good. But no, they had to make that cyberjoke first…

  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    I just want an inexpensive commuter that gets ~150 miles per charge. I live in a cold climate and I work about 25 miles away, so I need at least 75 miles range on the coldest days. I also want it to be cheaply repairable, so the battery pack needs to be inexpensive to replace.

    Tesla isn’t offering that, their battery packs are too hard to service and too expensive. So I’m going to keep driving my hybrid until someone makes something to replace it.

    Those Chinese sodium-ion batteries look like the perfect solution. Inexpensive, enough range, and less fire risk. My company says they’ll be putting in chargers, so I might be willing to go down a bit on range. If Elon wants my business (he probably doesn’t), he needs to make a cheap commuter.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Tesla has abandoned plans to develop an affordable electric Model 2, according to a report in Reuters.

    The news organization says it has reviewed company messages that say the affordable Model Y, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed would sell for $25,000 or less, has been axed.

    Then, this March, Musk told Tesla workers that the Model 2 would go into production at the company’s factory in Berlin.

    In light of this news, that statement certainly raises eyebrows—Reuters reports that one of its three unnamed sources told it that the decision to scrap the Model 2 was made in late February.

    Instead, Musk is allegedly “all in on robotaxi,” Tesla’s plan to create an autonomous driving system that could allow its cars to compete with Uber or Lyft without a driver in the equation.

    Earlier this week, Tesla posted its worst delivery results since 2020, with an 8.5 percent drop in deliveries year over year and yet another quarter of overproduction that has left the electric carmaker with nearly 150,000 vehicles produced but unsold.


    The original article contains 302 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 42%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    All those that claim this market belongs to China, Tesla already has production in China, and can use all the same benefits Chinese companies can. Including government subsidies.

    • whereisk@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      So long as they keep the Chinese government happy. That’s a big lever China has on Musk.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        China is probably just happy that Musk is Musk. Dude sows enough discord among the US populace without them even asking. Gift horse and all…

    • Benaaasaaas@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Outside companies almost never get the same benefits as local ones, that’s true even outside of china. Another thing is that china has national interests in chinese carmakers.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Tesla needs to make a certain substantial profit margin, same problem as Apple’s car project. BYD will sell at a loss for years to monopolize like Amazon/Walmart etc.

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      BYD has a level of vertical integration far beyond anyone else in the industry.