Tesla’s reveal of a robotaxi designed as a low-slung, two-seater, sporty coupe - quite the opposite of a typical taxi with room for several passengers and luggage - flummoxed investors and analysts.

But in true Musk style, he skipped over expectations of how a two-seater robotaxi would serve the needs of families headed to a restaurant or to the airport, or if he expected these to appeal only to a niche clientele.

Investors jeered the design and the lack of financial detail, with Tesla stocks tumbling 9% on Wall Street on Friday.

“When you think of a cab, you think of something that’s going to carry more than two people,” said Jonathan Elfalan, vehicle testing director for the automotive website Edmunds.com. “Making this a two-seat-only car is very perplexing.”

  • @[email protected]
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    332 minutes ago

    Investors jeered the design and the lack of financial detail, with Tesla stocks tumbling 9% on Wall Street on Friday.

    I didn’t realize this stupid vehicle was a two-seater. What a dumbass move.

  • Dogiedog64
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    75 hours ago

    What a fucking moron. Dude is so goddamn stupid that every decision he makes is the wrong one. And yet people keep defending him…

  • @[email protected]
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    86 hours ago

    He’s been at the point for some time where he believes being “contrarian” is the same as being “smart”.

  • @blady_blah
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    3416 hours ago

    The real problem that he failed to show any progress on self-driving. Self-driving has been 2 years away for the past 6 years and that’s the only real thing that will pull Tesla out of a downward spiral. Tesla stock is stupidly overpriced and competitors are catching up.

    With nothing but empty promises, people are starting to realize that the emperor has no clothes. And really, who wants to see Musk naked? …that’s a bag nobody wants to be left holding.

      • @LifeInMultipleChoice
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        212 hours ago

        Waymo did it well when I was in Tempe, so it already exists. Tesla just wasn’t putting quality hardware into it. The Jaguars were nice

  • Tiefling IRL
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    2019 hours ago

    I can’t wait for one of these to pull up with a puddle of vomit on the seat

  • @[email protected]
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    2019 hours ago

    I’m sure he’s imagining commuter clients using it to go to work every day on a subscription.

    • @actually
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      1220 hours ago

      In all fairness the critics simply have to get high on drugs to see the car as it was meant to be viewed.

      It seems selfish they are not

      • Flying Squid
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        815 hours ago

        How often do you think Elon drives while blasted out of his mind on ketamine? Because I bet it’s a nonzero number.

  • HubertManne
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    1118 hours ago

    Seems like the minivan is really the right thing. Can share with multiple folks or have a significant amount of luggage for the airport or such. Easier to serve the handicapped.

  • Zier
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    2822 hours ago

    I’ll take the bus, thanks. At least I will arrive alive at my destination.

    • @seaQueue
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      1520 hours ago

      But think of the opportunity cost here, you’d be wasting a chance to run over a child or a poor person!

      • Zier
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        113 hours ago

        I’m only taking this chance if I know elon will be in the road on my route at some point. Someone’s gonna get the X!

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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    521 day ago

    It looks like they were working on the new roadster and Elmo told them they were switching to a driverless cab.

    If it were a sports car it would probably sell really well because it’s got the doors that open like this

  • @Bassman1805
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    431 day ago

    On a related note…

    Full Self Driving coming next year? Or the year after that? Or after that?

    • Flying Squid
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      515 hours ago

      We’ll have FSD as soon as we get those flying cars with AGI I’ve been told are a few years away my entire life.

      Space colonies too.

      • synae[he/him]
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        413 hours ago

        There are self driving waymo taxis in San Francisco, it is only a fiction for Musk

        • Flying Squid
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          28 hours ago

          Along with what @Bassman1805 says, San Francisco has a small footprint and most of it is laid out in grids, making navigation easier.

          Plus, it’s not a problem-free implementation by any means.

          https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/san-francisco-autonomous-vehicles-robotaxis-b2391158.html

          https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/san-francisco-neighbors-say-repeated-waymo-honking-is-keeping-them-up-at-night/3622181/

          On top of that, it’s way too easy to make them stop working. Not too easy for passengers, too easy for everyone else.

          https://www.npr.org/2023/08/26/1195695051/driverless-cars-san-francisco-waymo-cruise

          • synae[he/him]
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            113 minutes ago

            Unlike the other things you mentioned, full self driving taxis do exist, they are being rolled out in actual markets with customers, and despite the problems you mentioned they are safer than human drivers and overall have improved my life as a pedestrian (sorry, anecdote). It may not be the perfect generalized scifi version you have in your head that makes you compare it with flying cars or AGI, but it is here.

            And, what - Musk’s version won’t have to overcome those problems?

            He’s years behind the competition in his own timeline, and as all the other commenters have pointed out he never even delivers according to that timeline.

            Meanwhile he’s announced a version of something that that already exists and is telling his customers and shareholders that in his best case scenario, he will be 3 years late to market - and it is a fast moving market, he falls further behind with every month that passes.

            • Flying Squid
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              111 minutes ago

              Is the “safer the human drivers” part also an anecdote? I’d like to see the evidence. As far as I know, that’s not actually public information. I’d like to know if it includes things like impeding emergency vehicles, or the situation in one of the articles above where the taxi kept going toward the fire hoses while the fire department was trying to put out a fire.

        • @Bassman1805
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          511 hours ago

          Those also use a combination of many different sensors to see the road around them, while Tesla stubbornly refuses to use anything except vision because that’s how humans do it. Nevermind that even with our best AI models, we’ve never even approximated how the human brain works.

          • synae[he/him]
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            127 minutes ago

            Yes, good reasons why his version will never come to market - which he is already late to. His lunch has been eaten, so to speak.

    • @[email protected]
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      3524 hours ago

      Musk and “FSD is coming next year” is like Trump and “I only want to be dictator for a day”.

    • @foggy
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      91 day ago

      What was his first prediction on that like 2015?

  • @Buffalox
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    1 day ago

    It may only have 2 seats, but didn’t they notice the tires are painted gold. That’s an awesome design decision right there! /s
    The 2 seats are probably meant to keep the death toll low. 😋

    But if they thought the robotaxi was weird, that was nothing compared to the robovan. Almost no clearance and almost no windows, and then Musk exclaimed: Yes! We are gonna build it like that! It’s siiick.

    neither robo- taxi or van are likely to be moneymakers. They’ll be a sinkhole of development cost, that will never come to market.

    But more are probably finally catching on, with an event causing the stock to drop 9%.
    It’s kind of hilarious that Enron Musks attempt to pump the stock failed so bad. 😋

    • @vxx
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      deleted by creator

  • @oakey66
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    131 day ago

    That’s because Musk is a dunce.

  • Jagothaciv
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    81 day ago

    Didn’t his mom say Leon was developmentally challenged in a twit post?