Wednesday, February 2, 2022

The FSD plot might be thickening...

First off, apologies for two tweet-based posts in a row, but things appear to be breaking quickly on this story. 

A few years ago, Tesla shifted the focus of their hype from EV performance to autonomy (Musk is now trying to shift it again, this time to Tesla's proposed line of humanoid robots, but that doesn't seem to be getting much traction, partially because the closet thing they have to a prototype is a dancing woman in a robot suit). 

Tesla is nowhere near the leader in the AV field -- never has been -- and it lacks the engineering talent and the R&D budget to ever catch up. Musk's solution was just to declare victory and release a far from street-ready Full Self-Driving product for beta-testing by fan boys. 

As a stock pump, it worked beautifully, earning Musk billions in bonuses, but examples of amusing or frightening malfunctions started showing up on YouTube and Twitter and regulators finally started taking a closer look at FSD.

Particularly at this...

Inevitably...


Musk took the news with his characteristic quiet dignity and grace. (For those who came in late, Tesla doesn't have a PR department but Whole Mars Catalog unofficially fills the role). 


Niedermeyer, who wrote the definitive book on Tesla, weighs in.


Here's the system beta-testers are counting on to determine when it's safe to roll through a stop sign at 5 and a half miles an hour.

FSD was supposed to be fully perfected years ago. Musk promised to deliver a million robotaxis by 2020. The actual number is fewer and none of them are Teslas.



2 comments:

  1. I also wonder if data in the car can be used by the police. An aggressive setting for FSD is a great way to prove reckless intent in any actual accident.

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    1. Well, there's this...

      A Tesla on autopilot killed two people in Gardena. Is the driver guilty of manslaughter?

      https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-19/a-tesla-on-autopilot-killed-two-people-in-gardena-is-the-driver-guilty-of-manslaughter

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