Imagine a taxi that can’t operate in the rain. That is what Tesla has delivered in Austin TX.
These riders learned that the hard way, but don’t have anything particularly negative to say about it… That’s the advantage of only making a Robotaxi service available to hand-picked Tesla influencers.
I wonder if anyone actually watched the video…
The car dropped them off at their planned location. They were told service may not be available for the next ride due to weather, but they did get another car in the end anyway. They were forced to exit at the end of the ride as everyone is. Then they got another ride. They weren’t dumped.
Edit: Would they be dumped, it’s possible, but that’s not what happened here.
This was their destination, which they then affirm they chose in the “dumped” portion -> “Unfortunately, we chose basically a park with no cover to be dropped off”, and they have text added to the screen “we got to our location via robotaxi, but weather became a concern”
Behold! The future, but shittier.
This shit is so bonkers stupid it’s broken my brain. Who fucking cares about driverless cabs, who hasn’t been on a theme park ride in the last 10 years and hasn’t seen driverless cars coming. Big fucking deal, was the world screaming for more cabs? What is materially is better about a cab ride with someone sitting in the passenger seat, vs. the drivers seat?
I get its innovation, and inevitable, so who fucking cares about the hype. Why do these fuckers care about the aesthetics of their cab ride? IMHO, without a driver, I want to see a fucking ectomobile of sensors, that would be beauty to me, being able to see the shit that’s keeping me safe.
Ugh, everything is so goddamned stupid, we have become so goddamned easy to impress. Fine, we can have all the future shit that the movies promised, but what will it actually do, what will is actually solve?
A robotaxi solves ONE issue, the cost of paying a driver. That is not something that impacts me, so who fucking cares. I like having a stranger to talk to while I ride, nice getting some new perspective.
Can’t get raped or killed by a robot driver but sure can by a human one. For that reason alone, I want proper driverless taxis.
You absolutely can be killed by a robot driver.
When the robot taxi rapes and kills you, nobody will ever catch it.
Meh, I’ve taken a lot of cab rides, so far no murder. I’m fine taking my chances.
Haha! That’s fucking hilarious.
And mind you, that solved cost of the driver will NOT translate to lower fares
It’s all about a tiny amount of people again making more money while more people are out of a job
I totally agree.
Remember when the price of groceries came down because of all the self-checkouts? Like, are his taxis going to be significantly cheaper than other providers? If not, why would I use them?
I really think the investors who are like “Tesla shares are worth $450 each because of robotaxis” really haven’t thought this one through. A driverless taxi is only better for the Taxi company. The experience for the user is worse in every way. If you want to charge the same as a regular taxi, your service has to be better. Who is going to help me with my luggage? Uh oh, storm clouds. I guess I will WALK IN THE RAIN.
I know there are some real idiots out there, but let’s break down the characteristics of a Tesla robotaxi customer:
- must be stupid
- must like walking in bad weather / getting stranded in random locations
- must like paying more for less
- must be ok with nazis
I’m no stock analyst, but I am confident in my $0.00 valuation of Tesla shares.
are his taxis going to be significantly cheaper than other providers? If not, why would I use them?
I had that one taxi driver in Philadelphia who took me on a 40 minute tour of the city for a 6 minute hop from my hotel to the place I needed to be. Running red lights, making wild lane changes across traffic… he was an anomaly, but one you don’t quickly forget. Then there are the taxi drivers from SFO to downtown San Francisco doing 80-85 in their clapped out 680,000 mile Caprices. The fact that there aren’t crumpled yellow Caprices lining the sides of the expressway is small comfort as you bounce along on completely dysfunctional shock absorbers flying after every pothole - occasional sparks flying on the touchdowns. I’ve taken that ride a half dozen times across a span of 20 years, it’s always been like that for me.
Yeah, at least the Teslas are new (right now). I haven’t had the same experience with shoddy cabs, but i am in a different part of the world. I can see the appeal of being in a newer, cleaner vehicle.
Right. I’m not against driverless taxis, but they are just another thing that does an already solved job. Maybe it will be a wee bit cheaper, maybe not, but at the end of the day, it’s not me, the user or the service, that these things are for. They are for the cab companies to make bigger profits, maybe pass some savings on to us (not likely, in fact I’ll bet a dollar they charge a premium).
I just don’t get why the hype cycle has captured everyone. Woo, a computer can drive a car, neat… I that’s all the reaction it needs.
Wait, they charge the same as Uber and all that?
They currently charge a flat rate of $4.20 per ride :|
Not joking. Is real. Will be replaced by a real number, they’ll probably ease their way up to Uber pricing to reinforce that they are the “cheap” option, and then jack up the price (just like Uber did)
Whatever they charge, you can assume it will be optimized to gain market control (not share) and once they have market control they will begin charging whatever the market will bear.
I gotta admit, under 5 bucks is a pretty good deal and definitely cheaper than i expected. i can’t imagine they’re profitable at that price, though.
That’s a placeholder, meaningless, price.
First thing that should be done… slap a “replacing a worker with a machine” tax, before we even think about having autonomous cars as cabs.
Don’t call it a special tax, call it an incentive for industries which pay fair living wages for employees. Everybody pays the same tax rate, but if you employ people the cost of employing those people can be partially rebated to your business (from the taxes it pays.)
Rain in urban areas is only condition where biking (or sometimes walking) is not sufficiently pleasant to get there faster and cheaper. Busy time for taxis.
You’ve never been in Minneapolis in February? Phoenix in August?
Why am I just now noticing Tesla’s logo looks exactly like an IUD?
Oh GAWD now I can’t unsee it
Something is very wrong in this universe since Elon Musk continues to earn more and more money.
EDIT: Because he doesn’t have enough! And can’t think of anything fucking better to do with his time!
Earn is a strong word. He obtains more money.
Accumulates
Accretes?
Grafts and extorts?
…you know, I never thought of it that way before but yeah, the way our economic system is designed, money is like gravity. Once it passes a certain threshold, it just…accretes.
And much like gravity it would take a rare and exceptionally violent event to break that hold and scatter it again in a way it won’t just pull back together.
earn more and more money
STEAL more and more money
FTFY
Assimilate
Resistance is futile!
Far as I can tell, he’s losing money, just not fast enough to choke him to death.
Manual override: on.
Because it’s all government subsidies/contracts.
We pay him. Involuntarily. That’s how “capitalism” is supposed to work. Right?
Yes, it invariably devolves into oligarchy.
For anyone wondering waymos (Google driverless cars) handle rain just fine as far as I’ve seen, and they have service in Austin. Idk why you would ever choose to take a tesla taxi.
For the thrill of a highly possible, but statistically improbable, violent death?
Thrill seekers gonna seek thrills.
for a robotaxi that has a driver for “safety”! Congratulations, Elon. You invented a taxi!
This article is TERRORISM because it Probably HURTS ELONS FEELINGS!
“don’t call me a snowflake, YOU’RE the snowflake!”
But I thought cameras > LiDar?🥴
The kid mannequin didn’t think so.
The kid mannequin doesn’t do much thinking anymore, RIP <3
Did it before? O_o
Well it had a chance of finishing its education, before it got Musked while getting off the school bus
Right before it wile E. coyote’d itself.
I mean to do a little devils advocate here he did say in terms of cost… not in terms of quality.
and quality is as we all know not important for self driving vehicles…
/s
Distracting af. Anyone have a copy of the video without such noisy ball gargling throughout?
Literally every single Robotaxi ride has some asshole babbling throughout, glazing Elon Musk as the taxi is bouncing off curbs or dumping them when it starts raining.
The PR play from Tesla here is really, really obnoxious.
The worst part? It’s working. Mainstream media is reporting that early rider reactions are enthusiastic, without mentioning that early riders are exclusively Tesla fandom podcasters.
even if they did, i’d still walk in the rain before riding in one of those fucking things
I have as much of a chance in the trunk of a mob owned Chevy celebrity as I do in a Tesla. At least I can try to talk the mob down.
Spoiler alert
looks around desperately for boxy 80s cars “phew!” I exclaim, whilst not noticing the Tesla wiggling it’s ass in the bushes while stalking me.
Let those peasants pull their bootstraps and find their own way home if it’s raining!
Tesla: We need to release the product to the public asap, how else are we gonna create something that really works?
Google (Waymo) already has an entire fleet of autonomous vehicles available for hire in Austin and many other cities. Amazon (Zoox) has been testing on the roads in Austin for over a year now. Both have thus far seemed to be doing really well from a safety perspective. But then again, like VW, they’re using lidar and can see through rain, fog, and night.
From a business perspective, Google and Amazon have diverse revenue streams and the deepest pockets imaginable, and will crush Tesla, whose only other sources of revenue are actively drying up.
All of this is so plainly obvious, along with how shitty Tesla is as a company. But TSLA somehow keeps its overinflated value.
I don’t understand it.
It’s a meme stock. Game stop on ketamine.
Forgive my ignorance, but why is Tesla using cameras and not LIDAR?
LIDAR used to be too expensive and bulky. Some Chinese cars now have sleek integrated LIDAR. Rain should have been figured out by now if cameras only can do it. Does FSD work in rain?
Because Elon has far more influence than intelligence.
They used to use LIDAR but Musk decided the hardware cost too much
It’s cheaper.
That…that’s it? He’s the richest man in the world for fucks sake. Also, they don’t work.
You don’t get to be rich by spending all your money.
But yes, that’s it. There’s also plenty of hubris involved, as well as short-sightedness.
So is not using a Tesla
What’s it cost to hire an assassin? Teslas might be cheaper.
Less reliable, though.
The one good thing about the Tesla implosion is the increased attention on Zoox
(No kidding - Bezos seems to ruin the other things he touches, like Blue Origin and The WaPo, but Zoox is actually making great progress! Probably because Beez isn’t a car guy, he’s a yacht guy I guess.)
It’s because Zoox is operating as an independent subsidiary of Amazon, and Jeff isn’t holding the reins any more (though Andy is, in my opinion, a worse leader for the company).
I’m sure that Amazon will slaughter the fatted calf once Zoox fully proves out by operating its intended product, though. Can’t let anything good exist when you can claw back that billion dollar investment, not to mention years of a surely massive operating budget.
I watched a minute of that YouTube video and feel so sorry for those people
Don’t. They’re handpicked Elon bootlickers.
If these are his bootlickers…how embarrassing. Why is that adult woman holding a little mermaid doll for the entire video
