from the call-me-a-taxi-ok-you're-a-taxi dept.
Tesla's robotaxi fleet will be 'functionally ready' in 2020, Musk says - Roadshow:
Last year during its Autonomy Investor Day, Tesla laid out the broad strokes of its plan for a fleet of autonomous Teslas to operate as a "robotaxi" service. Of course, at the time, this seemed like a flight of fancy, given the fact that no car manufacturer is even close to full, Level 5 autonomy, by the standard SAE definition.
Fast-forward to now, and it still seems like a flight of fancy. Nevertheless, problems of practicality, technology, logistics and good sense aren't things that Elon Musk is worrying about, because he confirmed on Twitter on Sunday that the service would be functionally ready in 2020.
[...] Tesla currently offers Autopilot, which is a very competent suite of advanced driver assistance systems when appropriately used, but it's nowhere near capable of "full self-driving" as Tesla likes to call it. So, either the Big T has been sandbagging pretty hard, or Elon is full of what a certain former Vice President would call "malarkey."
Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Report: Tesla plans to build a new car factory in Texas:
Elon Musk's recent clashes with officials in Alameda County, home of Tesla's Fremont factory, may have given him a heightened sense of urgency to find Tesla's next US factory. On Friday, several news outlets reported that Tesla was narrowing in on a new location to build the Model Y crossover and Tesla's forthcoming Cybertruck.
The reports started with Electrek, a pro-Tesla site whose co-founder Fred Lambert has good connections inside the company. Just before 3pm Eastern time, Lambert reported that Tesla had settled on Austin, Texas as the site of its next factory.
"We are told that the decision for the site is not set in stone since Tesla was apparently given a few options in the greater Austin area," Lambert wrote. "But Musk is said to want to start construction extremely soon and aims to have Model Y vehicles coming out of the plant by the end of the year."
That would be a remarkably short amount of time for any car company to build a new factory from scratch. Last year, it took Tesla almost a year to build its Shanghai factory—and that was considered unusually fast.
Nikola Unveils Three Reservation Packages for the Badger Electric Pickup Truck
Nikola, the manufacturer of an electric version of the heavy-truck, experienced a phenomenal bull run last week, prompted by the news of an imminent opening of reservations for the much-anticipated Badger electric pickup truck. Today, Nikola Motors tweeted further details regarding the seminal event, currently slated for the 27th of June.
[...] The first Nikola Badger reservation package will cost $250 and will entail a $500 discount applicable to the Badger's MSRP – expected to vary between $60,000 and $90,000. The package also contains a ticket to the Nikola World 2020 in order to view the Badger in-person. Finally, the package will entail 2 entries into a ballot for the Badger giveaway.
[...] As a refresher, Nikola unveiled the Badger electric pickup truck back in February 2020 to compete with Tesla's much-anticipated Cybertruck. According to the details revealed by the company, the Badger will retail in two power configurations: an FCEV (Fuel-Cell Electric) or BEV (Battery-Electric). Though it sports a much more conventional design as opposed to the Cybertruck's sharp corners and the futuristic vibe, the Badger offers impressive specs. As an illustration, the electric truck will offer a headline range of 600 miles through either of the two power configurations. Moreover, it will offer an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, a torque of up to 980 pounds-feet, and a peak horsepower of 906.
Previously: Nikola Semi Startup Shines on Wall Street With $34BN Valuation
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Tesla's Robotaxi Fleet Will be 'Functionally Ready' in 2020, Musk Says
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:02AM
It needs autonomous bleach wiping installed to stop pranksters from licking the seats and giving the next passenger coronavirus.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:43AM (1 child)
you have been slapped on your wrist once before for making (unfounded) stock-influencing announcements on twitter. I hope you will get the spanking you deserve this time around.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:49PM
Well, the butt are more erogenous than the wrist, the first time he could get no satisfaction (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:28PM (2 children)
"Functionally Ready", that is not the same thing then as "Actually Ready". It's like all my ideas are functionally ready, they just have not been fully implemented or approved yet. But they are totally ready, I promise ...
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:30PM (1 child)
The Levels of Ready.
1. Ready - just push the button
2. Almost ready - your wife is doing her hair
3. Nearly ready - kids still watching cartoons
4. Functionally ready - are we sure we really want to do this?
5. Not ready - tell them we're functionally ready
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday April 16 2020, @12:00PM
there is also systemd ready, alias windows desktop ready, alias Italian ready i.e.
- Ready!
- OK, let's ping google
- sure, just wait for the network to come up
- but you said ready!
- yes, to appear faster.
*groan*
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Nuke on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:29PM (3 children)
Brilliant timing Musk :
I think that sharing things with others, especially taxis where the air and seat are still warm from some stranger's lungs and arse, is going to be out of fashion for some time to come, even after the worse of COVID-19 is over. And where is he making these things? - is his factory not locked down like everywhere else?
Wait, he said "functionally ready". WTF does that mean? Probably that he has had a pot-induced dream about how this might work. I think that in his megalomania he has long lost the dividing line between fantasy and reality.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @01:55PM (1 child)
One would hope so. But things aren't always exactly the way you experience them. People don't generally take taxis because they like them, even Uber. And there certainly are people who have, and will, continue to need to use taxis because they can't afford their own transportation or it just doesn't make economic sense to do so.
Plus... people are stupidly forgetful of history. A year from now, two at the max, and everyone will have forgotten this outbreak and things will be back to normal. Those who think that this has changed anything long-term are woefully short-sighted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:33PM
Time to wake the fuck up. Peoepl have been living in close quarters for thousands of years. That's not changing. Grow an immune system, you fat pussy.
(Score: 1, Troll) by c0lo on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:59PM
Umm... China seems to have worked relentlessly in immunizing their population in the fastest way possible (let them get the virus), so Giga Shanghai [wikipedia.org] may be ready to fly again (it delivered the first "Made in China" Telsa in Dec 2019 [twitter.com]).
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:56AM
Again: self driving vehicles research is like research to make a car that runs without oxygen. O2 is plenty, so why? unemployed meatbags are plenty, so why? clearly there is a different agenda. And Musk is either playing along, like most enterpreneurs have always done wrt mondialist agendas, or is even more cued in than the average. The question is still: why?
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