diplomat33
Average guy who loves autonomous vehicles
All the Tesla fans getting upset that their Lord Musk might be beaten to it by Waymo.
To be fair I supposed Tesla probably will be pretty badly screwed when someone does get there first. Musk has bet too much on FSD being soon and being first.
I actually don't think Tesla fans should be too upset. Tesla produces great cars. I think most Tesla fans really love AP. And even if FSD is not fully driverless and requires driver attention, it could still provide a lot of benefits to Tesla owners in terms of added convenience and added safety. Imagine a system that does require the driver to watch the road but that can basically drive you anywhere, anytime, is safer than human driving, is cheap to add to cars and is available on all Tesla cars. That's essentially what Tesla seems to be heading towards with FSD Beta. That would still be a huge win for Tesla IMO. It would crush anything that other automakers offer on their vehicles right now.
As I see it, at least in the short term, it looks like there won't be any 1 company that wins FSD. Rather, we will have different companies offering different types of FSD. Waymo and Cruise will offer driverless ride-hailing in limited areas. Tesla will offer a driving system that requires driver attention but can drive anywhere, anytime. Other automakers might offer L3 that offers hands-free driving but only on highways under specific conditions. I think those different business models will coexist.
Also, even if Waymo did "win" by offering driverless robotaxis in all US cities, there would still be a place for Tesla because Tesla offers very compelling EVs. I think there will still be folks who will want to own a Tesla especially with the FSD package.