Simple question then. Why does Waymo have self driving cars in some cities but Tesla doesn't?
Tesla 2024
- Thread starter VicBee
- Start date
I'm not sure Waymo, Cruise or Zoox are competition to Tesla's FSD anymore than MB's level 3 self driving solution. They operate in sandboxes, using limited maps and numerous systems to ensure the car behaves as expected. Most often they succeed within those parameters and that's what they have to show for.
Tesla's solution is different, relying on cameras, AI and massive compute to operate like humans do. Today's v 12.3.4 can take you to work and back home without ever having to hold the steering wheel (although it's required) regardless of the weather, time of day, road work, etc. That's because FSD has memorized every aspects of your commute. Today's FSD can also take you anywhere you want to and requires minimal intervention. However, sometimes it does and it's the reason it's called FSD (Supervised).
I encourage you to watch this random video from YT (I haven't watched it):
Tesla's solution is different, relying on cameras, AI and massive compute to operate like humans do. Today's v 12.3.4 can take you to work and back home without ever having to hold the steering wheel (although it's required) regardless of the weather, time of day, road work, etc. That's because FSD has memorized every aspects of your commute. Today's FSD can also take you anywhere you want to and requires minimal intervention. However, sometimes it does and it's the reason it's called FSD (Supervised).
I encourage you to watch this random video from YT (I haven't watched it):
15% that once was 30%, which is a 50% drop/sliced in half.
Come on, you're not that stupid. Only pretending to be, right?
Oh so eventttttually margins will go back up. Don't read this:-
https://jalopnik.com/tesla-learns-hard-lesson-go-anti-woke-go-broke-1851429030
Tesla Learns Hard Lesson: Go Anti-Woke, Go Broke
When CEO Elon Musk took a hard turn to the right, the number of Democrats buying Teslas dropped 60 percent.
By
Collin Woodard
Published Yesterday
Photo:Kevin Winter / Staff(Getty Images)
Things are not going well at Tesla right now. The stock is down more than $100 per share year-to-date, as many as 20,000 people are set to lose their jobs, the Cybertruck keeps breaking, operating profit is expected to be down 40 percent when it’s announced later today and the $25,000 electric vehicle that Tesla has reportedly been working on is apparently canceled. As the Wall Street Journal reports, some but not all of that stress can be attributed to Tesla alienating what was previously its most valuable demographic — Democrats.
Historically, Democrats have bought Teslas in significantly larger numbers than people with other political affiliations. As Elon Musk has moved to the right, interacting with far-right accounts, promoting race “science,” anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia and complaining about the “woke mind virus,” though, the number of Democrats interested in giving him their money has dropped significantly. Late last year, that figure reportedly dropped by more than 60 percent.
Related Content
It Sure Looks Like Layoffs Are Coming To Tesla
Tesla Cybertruck Embarrasses Itself In Tug Of War With Silverado HD
Unfortunately for Tesla, while Republicans have embraced Musk’s political heel-turn, they haven’t necessarily been buying his cars in large enough numbers to offset the sharp drop in interest from left-leaning people. That’s likely due in part to Republican politicians using EVs as an example of how Democrats want to destroy the auto industry, control your life and force you to own nothing and eat bugs.
While surveys have found lower consumer interest in Teslas ever since Musk bought Twitter, when it came to actual sales, Democrats didn’t really start to drop off significantly until last October. They made up 40 percent of Tesla’s sales for the 2022 model year and 39 percent for 2023, yet when the 2024 model year Teslas went on sale, the number of Democrats in the mix dropped to 15 percent.
Even with Republicans and Independents buying more Teslas, first-quarter sales still dropped overall, with deliveries down even more significantly. You didn’t necessarily have to wait for Q1's results to see this coming, though, as Tesla sales were up 43 percent in California in Q3 but dropped 10 percent in Q4.
For years, Tesla had the exclusivity of its Supercharger network as its trump card. Other EVs may have been capable of a road trip on paper, but the non-Tesla charging network is still unreliable at best, so if you planned to use your EV as more than a daily driver, Tesla was still the best option available. It may be a coincidence, but late fall is also about the time that it became clear that every automaker in the U.S. would be switching to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard and would have access to the Supercharger network. By allowing non-Teslas to use its charging network, Tesla may have finally freed Democrats who would have previously bought a Tesla reluctantly to instead buy their next EV from a competitor.
That said, Democratic sales have rebounded a bit since last fall. By the end of February, they were back up to 35 percent of Tesla’s sales mix. “Elon hasn’t been in the press as much as he has previously,” Strategic Vision’s Alexander Edwards told the Wall Street Journal. “This lack of negative press and antics, combined with EV [shoppers] today…shopping various EVs and they find that the Model 3 and Y are still, in their opinion, the best decision based on value.”
If that’s true, then we’ll be especially interested to see what more recent numbers look like. The Cybertruck has quickly become a national embarrassment, with one even being defeated by a simple car wash. And with even more negative press expected to come out of today’s earnings call, Musk isn’t exactly doing the best job of staying out of the news these days, which according to Edwards can only mean bad news for Tesla.
You're entitled to your opinion.
I just logged on to say IF we see a pull-back to $152.14.... that would be the next level if one wants to get in cheap. It's not looking good at the moment though.
TSLA ---> $163.54
EDIT: I'm gonna adjust that down to $150.58
And here in lies the problem for me. If ever intervention is required, that counts as a crash, and this is why its not FSD yet. Elon should be punished for allowing such naming to be honest. Listen, I'm all for technology, but there are people clearly dying and killing other people who use this technology, both properly and improperly, and doing so on public roads, and paying to be a beta tester. Its yet another master scam of Elon.
Now I do agree that us humans drive pretty good with just our eyes, so it makes sense that an AI should be able to do it, and of course since it will never get distracted and have dozens of eyes, it should be much safer. But even if I watch an hour of it doing well, when I see a 5 second clip of it doing something stupid, that resets the clock for me.
We all want this technology to work well, as do I, but what Tesla is doing and claiming at the hands of Elon is practically criminal at this stage.
I honestly won't be surprised if this was the bottom until the inevitable August flop where there isn't a product anywhere close to what people are expecting. Unfortunately, until then, the Tesla bulls may very well drive the price up quite far. But the next quarter will likely also be bad, so this means Elon will have to continue to lie in 3 months, saying anything to keep the party going.
Well, like I always say...
Tesla is not a car company, and $TSLA is not a stock. One's a data company, the other is a money grabbing algo.
Full Self Driving has been aspirational. Up until V12 FSD was code based and far more complex to implement than Elon and team had expected. That is, until they plugged their AI in and suddenly FSD became a foreseeable reality. If you watched the YT video, you get a good idea of where it's at today.
I can see a future, in Europe first, where governments will require all cars to be FSD. Like Musk says, you'll take a car like you go up an elevator, without a 2nd thought, you press a button and arrive at your destination.
The implications of that leap forward are astounding. Accidents will drop to the number of elevator accidents we hear of today, almost none. No more car thefts, police chases, traffic tickets, parking hassles, insurance premiums, fewer trauma centers and emergency response teams..and on and on.
This isn't a matter of if, but when this transformation will be fully implemented. It may take 20 years, but I have no doubt it will become a reality. My grandchildren will talk of the days when people still had to drive their vehicles.
Not sure how, but rest assured, the insurance industry will figure out a way to screw you over regardless. They won't let the golden goose get slaughtered anytime in the foreseeable 20 year future. "All those dead and un-rechargeable batteries could create a health hazard and we could be liable." --->Up go the rates.