Robotaxi? Really??

[Ni Ph]

Telsa may go bust before Robotaxi and FSD (and that means NOT SUPERVISED). SUPERVISED FULL SELF DRIVING is NOT even close to FSD. So say if miracles happen and there is a Robotaxi then who is supervising, surely not passenger, may a human watching the camera's ready to take over,

The man who sacked 14K workers, so he can save costs and give himself a $56B bonus, for what. All his predictions usually fall flat, like 30K per year earnings passively generated if you bought a M3 in 2019 with FSD hardware and paid for FSD cos once cracked the price would be 100K.

Even with all the falls the value is of meme stock like DJT, all it needs is suckers. I was one to buy back in but hoping Robotaxi BS on 8/8 will be my exit ramp.

 

[Vicj]

Self driving is Musk's dream, pet project. And obsession all rolled into one. Unfortunately, it's not the general public's dream.
I just simply fail to see how anyone governing and shepherding the future of Tesla could think ANOTHER total niche thing, like the Cyberflop before this, could possibly be more importent than a competent EV at $25k. It mystifies me.

Musk is simply surrendering to Hyundai.

 

[Right_Said_Fred]

Unless the level of this thread moves away from people calling other people (also members of this forum) fanboys, lemmings, clowns and suckers, it will be locked down. I don’t know why all the anger is necessary in the first place, but it certainly shouldn’t be directed at other members.

 

[Ni Ph]

Unless the level of this thread moves away from people calling other people (also members of this forum) fanboys, lemmings, clowns and suckers, it will be locked down. I don’t know why all the anger is necessary in the first place, but it certainly shouldn’t be directed at other members.

Apologies if I offended anyone

Maybe my frustration at Elon and being a unhappy Tesla shareholder boiled over

 

[cwerdna]

Ni Ph got a boost today because of https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/29/tes...assing-hurdle-to-china-full-self-driving.html (Tesla jumps over 15% after passing key hurdle to roll out advanced driver-assistance tech in China).

 

[Ni Ph]

I did get a boost and no longer in the red. I Will hold on to my £25k shares for 8/8 Surge then will probably bail out hopefully with a decent profit , unless there are concrete deadlines and plans are unveiled. Remember I own a 2023 Tesla M3LR and have held shares since 2019 and I want the company to do well. And I have made 7x on my investment

Still not sure why the surge?

Though a more focused Elon would be good for everyone

The news is that Tesla to use Baidu maps and they can use in supervised FSD, but that is not same as Full Autonomous Self Driving as a Robotaxi. So again no bearing on Robotaxi

The guy with beard on YouTube was ultra positive as expected but as you may have guessed I am pretty contrarian and a sceptic. I want data and plans and reasons why a non growing company is priced like a Growth company while it’s declining. Apart from Cathy Wood(who sold NVidia at rock bottom and missed the whole AI bubble) and some bankers, but most have cut the target price to $140 and lower

 

[Vicj]

I would definitely divest before a Robotaxi kills someone, and the stock tanks.

 

[Ni Ph]

I would definitely divest before a Robotaxi kills someone, and the stock tanks.

ok, so wait till the first Robotaxi leaves the production line. 2025/6/7/8/9/?

I guess it will go through a name change then to, X-Taxi cos Fake-Taxi is taken

 

[Vicj]

Good point. The way things are going right now, Tesla may not even be in business by then.
Maybe it's just me, I don't know. It seems so OBVIOUS what the next product should be...

 

[parsec]

It seems so OBVIOUS what the next product should be...

Yes, it seems that way to me too. I'd like to see a $25K EV that is simple and just works well, without loads of malfunctioning doo-dads and gee-gaws. That is actually not far from what I was seeking when purchasing my MYLR. (I need to tow 3500 lbs, so need something a little e heavier than a 25K car.) At $53k, the Mercedes eqb300 was in contention, and it has much better ergonomics, better ride, better steering feedback... but not quite as much range. The deal killer for me was that the EQB owner can't open the bonnet... only Mercedes can do that, I was told. Simple maintenance items, like topping up the battery coolant, changing the cabin air filter, replacing the 12v battery, etc, then become expensive. And, of course, the Mercedes did not have a frunk, which is remarkably large on the MY.

I have been well impressed by the mechanical aspects of the MY. Fit and finish on mine is very good, the car feels "solid", and the sound system is very good. Even though Elon says they are really a software company, the parts of my MY that work well are the things that car companies do well. Ironically, the parts of the car that do not work well are all software related. TACC is iffy, the wipers are iffy, lane centering is iffy, and FSD is an accident waiting to happen. I feel safer in my 2014 Volt, which has conventional cruise control, wipers that can instantly go from intermittent to full speed, a steering wheel that anyone can adjust, and a glovebox that can be opened in the expected way,

So I think that there has to be a market for a simpler, more reliable 25k EV... not unlike a modern equivalent of the early Volkswagen Beetle. The cattle without the big
hat. And how about good ergonomics, so that all driving tasks can be done without making menu selections.

 

[whitex]

ok, so wait till the first Robotaxi leaves the production line. 2025/6/7/8/9/?

Depending how you define it. First Full Self Driving Tesla left the factory in 2016. First RoboTaxi can leave the factory next year no problem, but just like Full Self Driving cars don't self drive, the RoboTaxi won't taxi anyone around by itself, but it will be called RoboTaxi, so goal of shipping one will be achieved.

I guess it will go through a name change then to, X-Taxi cos Fake-Taxi is taken

RoboTaxi Supervised.

 

[KerrySkates]

If The Information report is accurate, Musk just fired the new vehicle team. Who the hell will administer any new vehicle development with the team responsible being thrown out. This is on top of the >10% layoffs from just last week. Wtf

 

[Ni Ph]

If The Information report is accurate, Musk just fired the new vehicle team. Who the hell will administer any new vehicle development with the team responsible being thrown out. This is on top of the >10% layoffs from just last week. Wtf

A Tesla employee wanting to keep a job, should consider flattering Elon at every opportunity. Plenty of examples what he likes to hear on X and YouTube.

 

[Vicj]

Yep. Musk's decision making has become quite unstable. Perhaps it's all the Ketamine. My fear is that he'll destroy Tesla as he destroyed Twitter.

I'll need to sell my Model Y before it gets too bad. I don't want to be stuck without service, or updates, when that time occurs. And it will. Obsession (full self driving) is dangerous for any company, let alone for what is still essentially a new company.

The executive layoffs, in particular, are troubling. Seems that anyone who disagree with Musk on direction are gone. His own words: any employee who didn't show proper "loyalty". Sounds very much like another guy in the news the last few years, doesn't he? Musk is slowly becoming another Trump... and alienating the very consumer demographic that built his company from the ground up.

Musk's recent track record on business decisions is very poor. It's time the board stepped up....or Tesla may fail after all. My biggest fear.

 

[mikesm]

Given the decision today to lay off the whole supercharger team, it sure sounds like he's not interested in building (or supporting existing) cars for individual users. This kinds of makes sense if your bet is all on robotaxis to go after Uber and Lyft. That kind of fleet could not user superchargers, but an automated fleet charging network.

In fact, if you were doing a bet the company pivot to robotaxis, you wouldn't want a bunch of superchargers making individual EV ownership easier for individuals and especially individuals who own EV's from competitors. And this is also consistent with them cutting service workers, because again individual car ownership cuts into demand for robotaxis. And you wouldn't need a launch team for building robotaxis - its a much simpler problem (assuming you have autonomy that works).

Regardless of what they said about cheap cars, cutting service and especially charging signals a much bigger shift to autonomy and robotaxis. He may have been planning on using individual car ownership as a transitory stage where he would be able to use all that driving experience to build up a training database for autonomy, and shift to the robotaxi market to avoid having to compete with massive Chinese EV competition. And those vehicles also generated a lot of revenue and profit that drove the stock up which would not have happened if he went direct to full autonomy. But this also means charging, service, and even retail sales is just a temporary set of jobs in Tesla.

Sure, he could try and compete with China, and probably do OK there, but the margins will never be great compared to a pervasive robotaxi business that would be much more profitable and harder for China to compete with. This does actually make a fair amount of sense, though I think full autonomy is going to be a much more difficult lift than he may think it will be, especially only with cameras. But I can definitely see the logic.

 

[Vicj]

While I see your point if I squint hard enough, I don't think logic is what Musk is using.
The layoffs are easy to explain. He's desperately trying to have a profitable quarter, so that he can continue to push his ridiculously exorbitant 55BILLION dollar pay package, that has already been struck down by share holders and by the courts.
He DOES seem particularly obsessed with self driving over everything else, but I've already addressed that. It's ludicrous from the start. It's going to take just one death to sour regulators on taxis that drive themselves. And worse, his behavior is going to make it very easy for legislators to gang up on him, as he continues to alienate everyone around him, and every customer he's ever had.
No, I'm sorry, I don't see this as some brilliant grand strategy on his part. He's been becoming erratic for some time. It's just speeding up now. I think the fall for Musk is going to be epic. Typical behavior for addicts. My hope is that he doesn't take Tesla down with him.
the Board should sever ties with him, before that happens. It's not like he's even a majority stockholder any more. He's CEO at the Board's whim. The smartest thing Tesla could do is distance itself from him.

 

[parsec]

A Tesla employee wanting to keep a job, should consider flattering Elon at every opportunity. Plenty of examples what he likes to hear on X and YouTube.

Flattery works to keep your car going too.

I find that my car works better if say things like "DEI must DIE!" and "FREE AMERICA NOW." I'm pretty sure it's listening even when I don't press the scroll button. FSD{KIDDING) has become more exciting since I started using flattery. Now it darn near lights up the tires when the light turns green, then it shifts lanes to get ahead of the dweeb in the KIA EV6, and then slams on the brakes. You should have seen how big the KIA dweeb's eye's got!

 

[cwerdna]

Given the decision today to lay off the whole supercharger team, it sure sounds like he's not interested in building (or supporting existing) cars for individual users.

...

Regardless of what they said about cheap cars, cutting service and especially charging signals

Indeed. I've seen various YouTube videos from various TV stations from around the US and at least one included service center layoffs. It's not like Tesla's known for great service any longer ever since Model 3 started being pumped out in large quantities.

though I think full autonomy is going to be a much more difficult lift than he may think it will be, especially only with cameras.

Indeed. He's missed all his predictions that I quoted at Make your robotaxi predictions for the 8/8 reveal and hasn't delivered on them. One really has to wonder what Elon really thinks when he says his "predictions" out loud. Is he trolling? Does he really believe it? Or is it just hype and/or an attempt to boost the stock price?

 

[Vicj]

Yep. Trying to influence the stock price, as his every muttering used to do. People are on to his behavior now. Ketamine fueled rants and impulsive decisions are not what his companies need right now.

 

[Bikeman]

Let’s hope the Supreme Court decision concerning Elon’s tweets stick. Elon will ignore it again because he thinks he’s above the law, and hope to heck the BoD does something about it. This man could very easily take Tesla down in a New York minute with another rash decision, like closing all sales and service centers and outsourcing it. How many prospective customers are looking to buy a Tesla car now after Monday? This next quarter will be much worse.