Tesla robotaxis aren’t coming any time soon
The idea of a robotaxi appeals to me. The day is not far off when someone—my wife, my daughter—will tell me I’m no longer safe behind the wheel. It would certainly be handy to call or text a robotaxi to drive to the grocery store, a show or a dentist appointment. So is that happening?
“It turns out not even the people building Tesla’s self-driving tech trust Elon Musk’s extravagant claims about the company’s autonomous vehicles.
“New reporting by Reuters interviewed nine former data labelers and a former self-driving engineer about their take on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving mode. The results were overwhelmingly negative, with seven of the data specialists admitting they wouldn’t ride in a Tesla in FSD.”
*snip*
“In recent months, Tesla operating on FSD move have driven riders into lakes, off bridges, and even into the path of oncoming trains — and those are just the incidents that get media exposure. Given these insiders’ direct access to terabytes’ worth of proprietary FSD footage, we’re inclined to take their word on it.”
Maybe I’ll invest in an ebike instead.
Tesla autonomous vehicles aren’t
“It turns out not even the people building Tesla’s self-driving tech trust Elon Musk’s extravagant claims about the company’s autonomous vehicles.
“New reporting by Reuters interviewed nine former data labelers and a former self-driving engineer about their take on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving mode. The results were overwhelmingly negative, with seven of the data specialists admitting they wouldn’t ride in a Tesla in FSD.”
*snip*
“In recent months, Tesla operating on FSD move have driven riders into lakes, off bridges, and even into the path of oncoming trains — and those are just the incidents that get media exposure. Given these insiders’ direct access to terabytes’ worth of proprietary FSD footage, we’re inclined to take their word on it.”
Maybe I’ll invest in an ebike instead.
Tesla autonomous vehicles aren’t
Joel:
E-Bikes and scooters are a big deal where I live in AZ. They move quickly on streets. However, that is an issue, The speed limit (if followed) is 35-45 mph if people obey it. They do not. They are easily 5mph over if they are conservative. It makes no sense as you do not arrive much sooner and there are stop lights and signs which will slow you down too, if they are obeyed.
Throwing a much slower E-Bike in the mix around here is going to be a disaster as people are in a hurry and do not care much less follow at a safe distance. There are bike lanes on some roads. They are used by much slower bikes. There will be competition over speed and getting around a slower bicycle with cars or pickup trucks zipping around both.
I am finding in AZ, speed limits, stop lights, and stop signs are suggestions. The enforcement is not adequate. The sense of mild and logic for people in care is missing too. Maybe when gasoline becomes even more expensive, this will change.
For now it is dangerous around here at least.
Waymo in San Francisco is great. I use it almost every time I go into the city if I can’t just walk from the BART (mass transit train) station – BART in, get off, call a Waymo… It drives extremely well and is a comfortable ride. I have a friend who lives a few blocks from the corner of Haight and Ashbury, and she swears by it. Why drive when you have Waymo? A very good question indeed!
My mom, who is turning 95 in three weeks, stopped driving a couple of years ago and got herself an e-trike. Way too powerful for her, accelerates much faster than she can handle. My daughter (23 at the time, active, runner, outdoor person) can handle it, but even she said it was definitely not designed for older people, regardless of what the marketing might suggest.
My wife (65) has been a confirmed e-bike user for about 10 years now. She used to commute to work on it (well, she’s on her third), 6 or so miles one way, over crowded suburban streets (mostly without bike lanes), until she retired last year. Berkeley does have a bike culture, which I suspect makes it a lot safer than your random suburb. No accidents, some close calls, but bikers expect that.
Unlike Bill, our speed limits are typically 25 on our streets, getting up to 35 only on the very few major roads, which I’ve noticed sane bikers avoid. So when people cheat, and they do, it’s not quite as dangerous here, as the e-bike can do 20 mph or even a little more.
John:
If they would monitor speed limits on our roads, it is possible E-Transportation would work. Not much will occur here till somebody is hit by a 4000# vehicle. Explaining the amount of time taken to go from point A and B does little. It is all about me and I am a safe driver when going over the speed limit. Other modes of transportation are need besides overweight vehicles.
@John,
Seen any Tesla robotaxis there? That’s the topic of my post.
I’ve been a road cyclist on and off since high school. I’ve ridden tens of thousands of miles over five decades, including city streets, Rocky Mountain passes, and two-lane state highways in Tennessee when the speed limit was 65 mph and there were no shoulders. I don’t own an e-bike yet.
Haven’t seen any Tesla robotaxis in SF, no. As an aside: oddly, there are more Miatas around my neighborhood than Teslas of any kind. Lots of other electrics/hybrids; we have an old Chevy Spark for around-town use.
Impressive bike history!! Reads a little like my running history, albeit with a lot more miles!!
My wife is/was an avid biker/mountain biker; she got the e-bike because she didn’t feel altogether safe biking to work and back on streets with no bike lanes at a speed much slower than traffic, plus we live on the side of a pretty steep hill, so the last 0.7 miles home were tough.