Me thinks the Feds are about to start putting Elon in check a bit..

[Dan D.]

Sandy for years has observed how OEMs’ tactics and approaches have stiffled innovation and focused more on each development group within a company working more separately than as a whole. The result was not a better product overall because of it or one that saved the company money. What he has seen in China in development and mfgr’ing production compared to what he sees in OEMs here concerns him greatly as an American. I remember very well how Japanese OEMs captured the huge American car market. My dad was a unioned OEM worker back then and worked for decades at a plant. Lots of sales lost to overseas mfgrs (and they still command a good share of the US market). My dad said long ago they could be making cars with way better gas mileage but refused to.

Unfortunately politicians and lobbying pressure from OEMs and other sources is taking aim at stopping/slowing down Tesla’s efforts. Hard not to observe that in many forms. People hired in influential legislative or regulatory positions should be well qualified in the field and more than anything be unbiased and open to innovation. Based on this lady’s public posts and comments when it comes to Tesla she’s very biased against the company, products and even Elon. The fact she takes $400K a year from a Lidar company being on their Board and speaking out about Tesla’s lack of lidar says volumes. BTW female here so not biased about women in these jobs and I don’t think that has anything to do with the positions she has taken. I can understand why OEMs, behind the curve and relying on Lidar for their future EVs they have tried hard not to have to make, want her in this position. Does not smack of fairness and I get Sandy’s viewpoint. With our President coming from a union family and speaking on the things he has, I’m also doubtful he’ll be fair and unbiased. Like to think better of him on this but haven’t seen that exhibited so far.

And then of course we have those that could essentially care little about a company, its products, employees or customers and more about manipulating its SP to make money for themselves.

She's only just got the appointment, people are sure piling on her fast. (Is there nothing wrong with Steven Cliff, who's much more influential in the NHTSA?)


I'll bet she does resign from Veoneer, or at least put it on hold during the appointment. It seems sensible to remove conflicts. That it's being discussed shows it will be important for her to remove herself from Veoneer soon.

Asked by Fortune whether Cummings should resign from her post and sell company shares should she take the NHTSA adviser appointment, a spokesman for Veoneer declined to comment.

 

[AquaY]

Sandy Munro is a guy in the know. Understands cars, politics of OEMs, truly appreciates innovation and who thought he would end up being a champion for Tesla innovation like he’s been. Tesla had to really prove it by him.

Here’s his latest video message (just posted this hour) about this Missy appointment and what appears to be happening to American leadership and innovation .

“Lets talk about how China is beating our government like a rented mule.”

 

[EVNow]

She's only just got the appointment, people are sure piling on her fast.

Now is obviously the right time to react - not after she does major damage to Tesla.

 

[EVNow]

She does seem to have many anti Tesla tweets in her stream. Example:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1446593551417102340

Looks like that tweet has been deleted ?

 

[Daniel in SD]

Looks like that tweet has been deleted ?

I think she locked down her account. She got a lot of abuse before being appointed (including many anonymous complaints to her employer, Duke University). I can hardly imagine what it’s like now, Tesla fans are certainly passionate!

 

[qdeathstar]

No one has mentioned Trump, attempted to compare/contrast him with the current admin, or defended him in any way. I hope you and @RSpanner feel better now.

Feel free to join the conversation us "adults" are having about Biden and his newly appointed anti-Tesla head of the NHTSA.

The ironic thing about that tweet is that he was right about that planes. The max relied on software to compensate for bad fundamental design.

 

[mark95476]

TSLAQ really, REALLY wants Tesla to fail by any means necessary. Missy is aligned to TSLAQ and wants Tesla to fail. She and TSLAQ have had that joint mission for years.

Per TSLAQ, Tesla was supposed to be bankwupt years ago. Every quarter they keep on building and selling more cars, posting profits, paying down debts, free cash flow, building factories, ...etc... is another quarter Tesla is propagating fraud and the biggest scam in history.

I think she locked down her account. She got a lot of abuse before being appointed (including many anonymous complaints to her employer, Duke University). I can hardly imagine what it’s like now, Tesla fans are certainly passionate!

 

[sperkin]

I really think the gov needs to regulate robots and AI. It's not about wanting Tesla to fail, but they need to take a closer look and plan out a safe roll out. Really need a check and balance. It's great Tesla is rolling it out to everyone, but I don't think it's safe.

FSD just took me to an oncoming lane on a left turn as it hit the apex on the left side of the road, and I used 5 reports just getting out of my neighborhood. People behind me taking their kids to school were scared, people in front of me were scared, and I am scared. FSD beta needs way more testing and learning before it goes to wider release, and needs a 3rd party to approve it. The way it is now, I think Tesla should pay employees to test FSD. It's so early in development this should be an internal beta test.

I will take another go with 10.3 next week, but I will not rely on FSD for my day to day driving. It is a fun party trick to see what it can and cannot do.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The ironic thing about that tweet is that he was right about that planes. The max relied on software to compensate for bad fundamental design.

Wrong.
The Max relied on software to try to reduce the time and cost of pilot training. It was all about making the plane behave like the prior version, so pilots didn't have to do a new type rating or any significant whatever-it's-called training to get to the new version.
And then they also made airlines pay for hardware redundancy, so you had pilots, through no fault of their own, unable to handle the results of a hardware failure.

 

[EVNow]

I think she locked down her account. She got a lot of abuse before being appointed (including many anonymous complaints to her employer, Duke University). I can hardly imagine what it’s like now, Tesla fans are certainly passionate!

If she had even an ounce of integrity, she would not accept this position (she certainly would have lobbied for it - you don't get positions like this without some effort).

Obvously, she doesn't.

BTW, Lex Friedman does similar work to what she does - has a lot of experience and a lot more integrity. Why not appoint him ?

 

[SMAlset]

To be fair my husband found an online lecture of hers and listened to it it’s entirety. He’s been a Tesla owner for over 4 years now and uses AP, and he’s also an engineer so testing isn’t new to him. He had questions about the methods she described and how she set them up. His takeaway at the end was she was very biased against Tesla and their technology and that’s not even taking in her LiDAR involvement or posts about Tesla, its AI or Elon.

Someone in this NHSTA position should not come into the job with the expressed bias that she clearly has. Manufacturers will have different approaches and should be treated fairly and vetted to be so.

 

[Dan D.]

...
Someone in this NHSTA position should not come into the job with the expressed bias that she clearly has. Manufacturers will have different approaches and should be treated fairly and vetted to be so.

I don't know though. Why not fill your ranks with a rabid anti-Tesla's-methods advisor, a staunchly anti-Ford advisor, a hater of ICE cars, etc. You want aggressively negative people who are good at pointing out what they don't like. They are advisors, you don't have to listen to them but they are more useful than happy people who don't see fault. You're looking for fault when you conduct an investigation.

I've worked in a Quality Lab and some of my coworkers didn't see the flaws in our product. They were not very good at their job.

I'll bet she tones down the social media rhetoric now that she has this job. Again it's the NHTSA group that is going to choose to take her advice or not, it's her job to give it. She has strong opinions on Tesla's approach, but apparently is not anti-Tesla, there's a difference there too. Give her a chance.

 

[Driver08]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1451093662880964608

 

[Dan D.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1451093662880964608

I enjoyed some of the tweet responses to {Missy Cummings @TstTwet} who couldn't figure out that it's a fake account. Elon likes a good joke, so he's ok.

 

[Just a Reader]

Sandy Munro has always given me the impression of being a complete Tesla fanboy. His review pieces on the ID.4 have certainly convinced me that I would never like to buy a car that he has consulted on: no respect for the aspect of using materials that can be recycled later on and he is most certainly a big fan of parts that can be snapped on. Safe the manufacturer a couple of bucks by quickly slapping the car together and who cares about the guy who has to disassemble something years later to do any repairs. No, thanks.

 

[rxlawdude]

Sandy Munro has always given me the impression of being a complete Tesla fanboy. His review pieces on the ID.4 have certainly convinced me that I would never like to buy a car that he has consulted on: no respect for the aspect of using materials that can be recycled later on and he is most certainly a big fan of parts that can be snapped on. Safe the manufacturer a couple of bucks by quickly slapping the car together and who cares about the guy who has to disassemble something years later to do any repairs. No, thanks.

Notice you're in Germany. You wouldn't be upset, by any chance, because your country's manufacturers are so far behind Tesla. Right?

I can't believe VW even has customers, given its penchant for faking tests and lying to regulators worldwide.

 

[AquaY]

Sandy Munro has always given me the impression of being a complete Tesla fanboy. His review pieces on the ID.4 have certainly convinced me that I would never like to buy a car that he has consulted on: no respect for the aspect of using materials that can be recycled later on and he is most certainly a big fan of parts that can be snapped on. Safe the manufacturer a couple of bucks by quickly slapping the car together and who cares about the guy who has to disassemble something years later to do any repairs. No, thanks.

I've watched several of his videos. Seems his opinions are based on what he sees and he shows the audience it.
A great video is when he tore down the Thermal system for both the MY and the Mach E.
search for ;

Mach-E Thermal System Part 2: A Detailed Comparison to the Model Y"​

 

[omarsultan]

Sandy actually got famous in Tesla circles for his negative critique of the Model 3 designing and manufacturing. To his credit, as the company has improved design and build, he has shifted his opinion. His focus on value engineering is super important, especially for a startup, but I do agree good, holistic product management should take other factors into account for a balanced design.

His latest video, however, may cement the "fanboi" label

 

[Daniel in SD]

If she had even an ounce of integrity, she would not accept this position (she certainly would have lobbied for it - you don't get positions like this without some effort).

Obvously, she doesn't.

BTW, Lex Friedman does similar work to what she does - has a lot of experience and a lot more integrity. Why not appoint him ?

Is the issue that she's on the board of an ADAS company? Or that she didn't think Tesla would deliver robotaxis in 2019?
Obviously if you're hiring an advisor you want someone with some knowledge of the field so picking someone with zero industry connections might not be the best decision. The Veoneer issue seems to have resolved itself since they're getting bought by Qualcomm.

I wouldn't complain if Lex Fridman were hired as an advisor.

 

[EVNow]

Is the issue that she's on the board of an ADAS company? Or that she didn't think Tesla would deliver robotaxis in 2019?
Obviously if you're hiring an advisor you want someone with some knowledge of the field so picking someone with zero industry connections might not be the best decision. The Veoneer issue seems to have resolved itself since they're getting bought by Qualcomm.

I wouldn't complain if Lex Fridman were hired as an advisor.

That she is closely linked to short sellers who have tried and continue to try their best to bring down Tesla. She is so closely tied to TSLAQ crowd that she used their lists to block everyone who is considered pro-Tesla. Does that sound like someone who has an open mind and can be relied upon to regulate the industry fairly?

Now anything that NHTSA does against Tesla will be viewed as a biased attack.

You just can't be closely linked to any of the companies you are supposed to be regulating - linked positively or negatively.

As I said in a different post - it would be as if a well known anti-vaxxer is made a senior consultant at CDC/FDA.

ps : BTW, this exactly what some administrations have done in the past. Bring in coal industry lobbyists as consultants to EPA