Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Clearly the robotaxi company with the weakest sensors, the worst software, and the most deranged CEO. Fortunately reality has not been tainted by an actual robotaxis implementation, though long promised by their leader…
Wired reports that Tesla acknowledges that their "robotaxis" are sometimes actually driven by humans. This is of course not a surprise given the Tesla Optimus robots are known to actually be just teleoperated puppets. Certainly is peculiar that the company is valued at $1.4T based on robotaxis and humanoid robots.
Benzinga reports that the California Public Utilities Commission has declared that Tesla does not have true autonomous capability and therefore does not have an actual robotaxi system. Whoops. You can always count on Elon to not speak the truth.
Business Insider provides a truly informative documentary on the current state of robotaxis. Covers everything from cost to safety. But most importantly, it asks if we are even asking the right questions, and whether we should instead be looking at how some cities made their streets much safer ... without any robotaxis at all. A must watch.
Austin American-Statesman reports that both Waymo and Tesla are all crashy-crashy in Austin. Frankly, it is quite amazing that they claim that autonomous vehicles are safe when they get into so many mishaps.
electrek reports on how Tesla FSD relies on humans taking over when things go wrong, yet this is an impossible task. It takes too long for human drivers to context shift and take over driving. And since Tesla FSD is not full autonomy, the human driver is fully responsible for the inadequacies of the semi-autonomous system.
electrek reports that the head of the Cybercab program has left Tesla. Clearly the head of the program had no faith in the success of the program itself.
electrek reports that Tesla has dodged a 30-day suspension in California by finally changing their false marketing campaigns. Tesla is completely dropping "AutoPilot" and will only refer to FSD through the amazing contradiction of "Full Self Driving (supervised)"
electrek fact checks Elon's statements on the alleged Tesla robotaxi service and finds that it is all just a bunch of lies.
5 NBC DFW reports on how relying on the "self-driving" features of a Tesla can go incredibly wrong. Once again, a Tesla ran into emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. This completely demolishes the argument that AVs will help eliminate the dangers of drunk driving. Drunk driving is still drunk driving, even if one has some fancy, but half-baked, technology.
electrek reports that Tesla continues to try to hide as much as their safety data as possible, yet the data available still shows that they have a 3x crash rate compared to human drivers.
electrek reports on how Tesla robotaxis are still in no way automomous. Musk recently announced that Tesla would be operating service without a safety driver human in the car. Turns out the safety human is simply in another car following close behind. Just as the Tesla Optimus "robots" are simply teleoperated puppets, the Tesla robotaxis aren't actually autonomous. But hey, expect lots of BS at the earnings announcement on January 26 in order to keep the stock inflated as much as possible.
The Telegraph reports that Waymos and other robotaxis will be coming to England. But also notes that some of their "supervisors" are located all the over in the Philippines. Sure hope nothing goes wrong (as it has many times in San Francisco)!
The NY Times reports on how Tesla robotaxi hype has greatly inflated the Tesla stock price yet Tesla doesn't even have the technology for autonomous driving and no road to profitability.
NY Times reports on how China is now delaying their plans for widespread adoption of robotaxis. It turns out that they are no where near safe enough for full autonomy.
The Register reports that the California DMV is not at all happy with Tesla's marketing the "Autopilot" system. They have found Tesla to be in violation. If they do not update their marketing materials within 60 days they will be suspended from sales in California for 30 days.
