Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[printf42]

How Volkswagen’s $50 Billion Plan to Beat Tesla Short-Circuited
Faulty software set back a bid by the world’s largest car maker for electric-vehicle dominance

How Volkswagen’s $50 Billion Plan to Beat Tesla Short-Circuited

• "..the fancy technology features VW had promised [for the ID.3] were either absent or broken. The company’s programmers hadn’t yet figured out how to update the car’s software remotely. Its futuristic head-up display that was supposed to flash speed, directions and other data onto the windshield didn’t function. Early owners began reporting hundreds of other software bugs."
• "Ever since Tesla launched its first car in 2008 “there was this feeling that the really serious players are going to come,” said Peter Rawlinson, CEO of electric car startup Lucid Technologies and the former chief engineer of Tesla’s Model S. Now, he says, “the Germans have finally come, and they’re not as good as Tesla.”
• "In the early years of the ID.3 effort, the task to code software for the car was scattered across the organization...The first major project was VW.os, an operating system for ICAS1, the car’s central computer that could be updated remotely."
• "In April, he [Mr. Diess] brought back Prof. Malik for a three-day workshop with about 40 of his top executives. Prof. Malik said Mr. Diess posed a simple question for the group: What do we have to do to catch up with Tesla by 2024?"
• "At the end of the workshop, the management team had the outlines of a reboot. It would produce a new fully electric and largely self-driving car by 2025, shift more resources from the company’s old business to EVs and digitization, expand battery manufacturing, and explore new revenue streams and payment systems."
• "VW.os 2.0—is targeted for 2024 and will include advanced self-driving car features. VW’s goal is to eventually build at least 60% of automotive software in-house."
• "Another component of the reboot was the Artemis project, a new in-house design team that would take the software developed by Mr. Hilgenberg’s group and integrate it in a new electric, self-driving, and internet-connected vehicle within three years."

Funny how the title for such an article would still try to fool algo by trying to appear to be negative to TSLA.
It fooled me for a few seconds, have to read 3 times to get it.

 

[Alphacrux]

Funny how the title for such an article would still try to fool algo by trying to appear to be negative to TSLA.
It fooled me for a few seconds, have to read 3 times to get it.

For me one of the biggest questions is: why is the goal for only 60% of the software to be developed in-house? (By 2024).

 

[Stone_Watcher]

View attachment 629019
Man, look at those spikes at 900, 910, and 920. 13k, 12k, and 13k respectively.

I say it ends between $800 and $900

 

[M|S|M MYP]

$2T is also less than the past, and probably future, Coronavirus stimulus. Let’s get those furloughed employees out installing wind turbines, solar panels and batteries in a social distancing manner.

Only $2T in the future is going to be $TSLA's market cap on the way to $5T and then $10T

 

[Nocturnal]

1-Minute Music Video

Tesla - Sunday:

I love that video like "a million miles" battery

 

[joh01652]

Now, I understand how other car manufacturers do quality check, Ford delays hundreds of Mustang Mach-E deliveries for 'additional quality checks' - Electrek
They delay deliveries, deliver less than expected, this leave them time to check them over and over again. While giving the chance to the stealerships to ask for a premium on the MSRP because of the rarity of the product.

I wonder is TSLA was green again today partly because of Ford repeated delays. There was Elon time now there is Ford time.

Well, that's the "official" word from Ford, we don't really know what's going on. Some customers who've preordered the Mach-E have to wait until March to get their vehicle now. For all we know the delay may have something to do with the semiconductor shortage. Ford had to shut down their Kentucky factory last week that makes the Escape and Lincoln Corsair due to the shortage. Many major auto manufacturers are being disrupted by this, not just Ford.

Maybe the Mach-E is being put on the back burner for a bit while Ford deals with this more immediate problem?

 

[Evoforce]

Make sure each bottles isn’t leaking (mine was.). Kicking myself for only ordering one.

Yeah, leaking right into someone's mouth!!!

 

[Bet TSLA]

Ooooh, a whole new way that Elon is ruining people's lives: Elon Musk said it was ‘Not a Flamethrower’ – TechCrunch

Read all about people in prison, home raids, and on and on. I couldn't read it all. Apparently law enforcement all over the world is not amused.

No doubt TSLA will tank on the news. Well, probably not.

 

[lafrisbee]

MoreI was just thinking...
If one of the seats had a leak how much methane would leak out in SBD's? Could that have caused the vehicle to explode?
On another OT note....
I've barely been able to look at those silly little Novonix shares I bought a few months back from watching some tesla-boi's video about how it was going to become a supplier for Tesla...
When I saw it pop today I didn't question why, I figured it'd be down tomorrow...but with Dahn starting to work with them it seems I can now be like ya'll.
"I wish I'd have bought more!"

 

[Alphacrux]

Paccar, Aurora to Develop Self-Driving Big Rigs

 

[Mo City]

Joe's latest drone video from Austin.

If you like, just watch the first 4 mins where he illustrates the accelerated progress since Jan 1st.

 

[StealthP3D]

Paccar, Aurora to Develop Self-Driving Big Rigs

I live a short drive from Paccar's development facility where they have been developing rudimentary self-driving trucks and I drive by there on Farm to Market Rd. all the time. We lived next door to one of the suspension engineers who worked there for many years and my wife knows a couple who are both powertrain engineers at the facility. Here is a satellite photo of the track where they have been developing the self-driving technology for big rigs and a Seattle Times article about the development work going on there:

In Mount Vernon, Paccar develops automated trucks that could revolutionize long-haul industry | The Seattle Times

You will notice the track they have is only suitable for the most rudimentary self-driving development. More troubling is the engineering culture I have learned about over the last 10-20 years that doesn't inspire confidence. The two engineers my wife knows have a very dim view of Elon Musk and Tesla. These engineers believe they are are being very factual and science/evidence based when they say Elon's planned semi "won't work" the math doesn't add up, it's simply not feasible. The batteries are too heavy, etc, etc. My wife doesn't have a technical background so she probably just nodded and asked them a couple of non-threatening questions. They have a couple decades experience working for Paccar developing the diesel powertrains and use that as evidence they know what they're talking about. It's not debatable - they are correct, Elon doesn't know what he is doing with semi's, it's not real. They have no idea they will not have a job shortly. Or maybe they do and are in denial.

The Seattle times article from last year has a doozer of a quote from the test facilities head honcho. Keep in mind, PACCAR has spent the last 4-5 years developing self-driving on a 1.5 mile oval! Check out what Stephenson, the manager of all these engineers said as he demonstrated the ability of the truck to stay between the lane markings hands free:

“Usually there’s a bed back here where we’re sitting,” said Stephenson, who was on a gray chair in the rear of the cab usually reserved as a sleeper compartment for drivers on long-distance trips. Asked if the day may come when beds in trucks are a thing of the past, he pondered a moment and said, “Potentially.”

That was less than a year ago! I swear, these guys are dinosaurs. I mean, how can they succeed if they are not even sure it's possible? Even the Teamsters management said trucks without operators are not a question of "if" but "when". This quote from the head manager of the development facility does not inspire confidence. It's like they are living a decade or two in the past.

From having beers with my Paccar engineer neighbor, I know he has a pretty dim view of the engineering management at the facility. He's a more brilliant than average engineer and felt totally stifled by the culture and the way they do things there. Very backward. He had new complaints every week about how they were going about the development of various things (he worked on suspensions) in an ass-backwards way (non-productive). Bad engineering he would say. The problem was the top engineers had seniority but couldn't engineer themselves out of a cardboard box.

Tesla has made FSD a modern buzzword and top management of top companies are directing their engineers to develop this stuff but most of them have not a clue what they are doing. It's pathetic! I think the head of engineering just says and does the right things to make upper management believe they are giving it all they've got. Upper management doesn't have a clue about engineering so they just have to hope engineering knows what they are doing. They probably hired a couple guys with degrees in AI who don't even know what they're doing. Meanwhile, Tesla has some of the most talented AI engineers in the world and are attacking the problem with a ferocity and single-minded focus that would stun and shame most other AI self-driving teams around the world.

I don't know, who do you think is going to win the race? .../s

 

[Dan Detweiler]

Make sure each bottles isn’t leaking (mine was.). Kicking myself for only ordering one.

Hence the importance of panel gaps. s/

Dan

 

[truwa]

Now, I understand how other car manufacturers do quality check, Ford delays hundreds of Mustang Mach-E deliveries for 'additional quality checks' - Electrek
They delay deliveries, deliver less than expected, this leave them time to check them over and over again. While giving the chance to the stealerships to ask for a premium on the MSRP because of the rarity of the product.

I wonder is TSLA was green again today partly because of Ford repeated delays. There was Elon time now there is Ford time.

"quality checks". LOL.

They are having software problems like VW. That is it.

Another pathetic legacy auto that first builds the car then tries to make a software to combine everything together. And it is very difficult if your architecture is ICE based; 100 closed-source microcontrollers from different manufacturers.

 

[UncaNed]

Volkswagen ID. Buzz Delayed Until 2023 For US Customers

This is so laughable and pathetic. Somebody needs to tweet Elon to put out a concept version of this vehicle to punk VW. They could wait until April Fools Day, show the CGI press release, then come back a month later with a working prototype and open the ordering platform. Call it the Tesla Trip-e.

Muskwagon perhaps.

 

[UncaNed]

Tesla hasn't sold every Model S/X they can make for a while now.

With the Fed Credit maybe people who opt out of FSD will opt in.

Plus, we don't know how demand will match to future capacity if everyone else other than GM has a $7500 credit while Tesla does not.

You're worried about VW having a $7,500 tax credit for the cars they can't build?

 

[Cobbler]

Second price increase in a month period for the Belgium Model 3 SR+ ....
Was at 48800€ November, 25 days ago increase to 49490€ and now 50490€. Currency adjustment?
View attachment 611709

Today, price drop on Belgium for M3 SR+ with slightly more range

 

[kanweg]

Today, price drop on Belgium for M3 SR+ with slightly more range

View attachment 629090

In the Netherlands 46980.
Strange, because the specs are the same.

;-)

 

[MikeAtkinson]

Today, price drop on Belgium for M3 SR+ with slightly more range

View attachment 629090

Looks like a widespread price drop across Europe of about 7-10%. Caused by the weakness in the dollar which has fallen against the Euro, and most other currencies.

 

[MaChiMiB]

Roughly 3k € price cut for all Model 3 in Germany.
SR+ 40k
LR 50k
P 55k
Incl VAT

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/l1643c/tesla_lowers_prices_of_the_model_3_in_germany

Minus 6k € subsidy.