We’re getting the first videos of “select guests” getting access to Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin, and the level of polish leaves something to be desired.
For instance, one gaggle of Tesla influencers was dropped off directly in an intersection, leading to these wooly screenshots.
I wonder how long the facade will hold. They can’t restrict the service to pro-Tesla influencers forever and the safety guys will have to go eventually. How long before weird or dangerous incidents start to happen? Days, weeks? It won’t take months, of that I am certain.
How long before weird or dangerous incidents start to happen?
Well…
one gaggle of Tesla influencers was dropped off directly in an intersection
Never mind, scarier stuff is being released from day one: https://fuelarc.com/cars/tesla-robotaxi-freaks-out-and-drives-into-oncoming-traffic-on-first-day/
:
Watching the video that’s still pretty tame. Not good, but nothing to make the news either. I expect much worse.
My over/under to a major crash from when they remove safety operator from front seat? Under 14 days.
Yeah, sounds about right.
Had to zoom in to convince myself that thing didn’t get the crap keyed out of it
Are these cheaper or is it just Uber etc trying to maximise their profits by cutting out the salary bit?
They are currently dirt cheap, because Tesla isn’t looking to profit (this is a PR stunt and stock pumping excercise for now).
The rides cost $4.20. Haaah, that joke will never get old, Elon :|
And yes, the reason that it impacts the stock price so radically, is that labor is a huge portion of professional driving expense. If you can make every professional driver unemployed by automating their job, you can make a small handful of people very, very rich.
This has always been Uber’s goal, it’s why they’ve shovelled literally billions into self-driving research.
