I appreciate your enthusiasm for the Robotaxi model. I share it. But all I can say is go ask an Uber driver about cleaning- that is with someone in the car with the offender. I don't care about liability or responsibility just that it has to be done. Someone pukes in a robotaxi and it is not going to just clean itself. Same when they piss on the seats. Or when they spill the venti vanilla and leave a seat covered in a sticky mess. AND THEY WILL. The vehicle then goes back to some facility to be cleaned. Say it is not cleaned well and the next rider finds his hand stuck on some puke. I'm a believer in the robotaxi model, I think it is a massive need to address global warming. I just don't think Tesla, as it currently exist, has a culture that would deliver an excellent robotaxi experience. I also believe that robotaxis when more than just novelty will create a significant backlash and this will require some...savvy and political nuance and EM has not shown himself too good at that. As each robotaxi replaces several cars it is great for the mission but I think will be a challenge to implement. The average buyer is still a zealot. They BELIEVE. A robotaxi user just wants to go from a to b.
Why am I skeptical? Tesla has not succeeded at everything but especially when they are in a high consumer touch experience. Just look at the Solar Roof and even Solar panel business. Failure after failure and it is a long long string of failure. Tesla's strength has been executing on rapidly manufacturing cars. EM views Teslas greatest differentiator as the ability to manufacture. Robotaxis are a service and Tesla...well Tesla service across all aspects of the organization...sort of sucks. I have a CT reservation despite qualms on Tesla service. I don't have a Tesla Roof because Tesla could not deliver and wasted a lot of time. I am waiting now on alternatives. Likely fixed ground panels and a steel roof.
Robotaxi business is going to be just as new to Tesla as solar roofs and just as prone to failure thus I'm a fan but am not sure if Tesla would be better off creating a standalone entity to actually own that business. Not committed to any POV just that right now it seems high risk based on Tesla working outside wheelhouse.
Take another EM company, the boring company. I don't see cities beating down the doors to get tunnels built ( I too had thought of boring companies after consulting for 1 of the large ones). So solar and boring have not done well. Even in Tesla automotive they did not plan for adequate battery capacity, 4 years ago, for the production they have built and achieved. Why? They have the best team out there for EVs, hands down. They have done a phenomenal job at addressing the EV space. I think that they have finally got a clue regarding FSD but it has taken 4 years of floundering around (and that's fine it just is what it is) but they are several years from a product that would allow a robotaxi. Years. Then throw a culturally different model at the robotaxi space, it is a hospitality type experience. There is nothing whatsoever in the Tesla/Solarcity history book that would give me high confidence that Tesla will address this in a manner that will cause robotaxis to succeed. I just think it is a different experience than manufacturing.
