Tesla turns to Texas to test its autonomous “Cybercab”
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HovelOfPaine
Smack-Fu Master, in training
Let me guess, they'll only be allowed to go "fully autonomous" in predominantly Democrat/minority neighborhoods as well.
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Austin resident here. Yeah, fuck this shit.
The state government is obviously going to be cool with this, but I'm wondering if the city government is able to do anything about this.
The state government is obviously going to be cool with this, but I'm wondering if the city government is able to do anything about this.
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Aurich needed to put a screaming child in the photo too... or is the child out of the driver's FoV because of how high the hood-line is?
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Did I see where the Cybertruck ignites at almost 20X the frequency of the Ford Pinto?
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Thankfully Texas traffic is light and drivers are friendly, especially on the freeways at rush hour.
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I expect shortly the Texas AG will announce new laws that will allow Tesla to sue pedestrians/vehicles hit, or the families of those killed, for getting in the way of the amazing and totally lawful cyber cabs.
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Unfortunately, TFA says that the Texas state gov't blocked local gov'ts from restrictions. so you may be out of luck
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Testing? Now that Musk's in charge, they don't need no stinking testing. They'll kill people in production.
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Same. This is going to be an utter shitshow if it actually happens. I doubt the city government can do much, Texas has essentially neutered any city's ability to self-regulate if there's an applicable state law.
That image in on point by the way, well done Aurich!
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My first pass at it was actually with this:
But just wasn't that happy with it.
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Its really funny how perceptions have shifted so quickly, there's a new restaurant near my home, and I was curious to check it out: saw a 'pimped out' Cybertruck parked in front. Turns out, the owners vehicle.
so, i decided I didn't need to try out the new restaurant...
One can make some exceptionally quick decisions about how a business is run by looking at how the owner feels their money should be spent.
so, i decided I didn't need to try out the new restaurant...
One can make some exceptionally quick decisions about how a business is run by looking at how the owner feels their money should be spent.
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Yeah: that image doesn't really convey the sheer level of terror required...
the eyes wide open in terror shot from "Get Out!" might have worked...
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The other aspect of this is there is a growing segment of the population with intent to vandalize or otherwise impede everything Musk. For Cybercab, for example, a quick puff of black spray paint and the cybercab is out of commission until a Tesla rep shows up to remove the paint. If people are already bold enough to vandalize private owner vehicles I am sure they will be even more bold with vehicles still owned by Tesla.
Musk made this bed and he will sleep in it.
FWIW: I am in no way condoning this behavior. Just an observation. I believe Musk is well on the way to doing the damage himself.
Cmon shareholders and TSLA board. It's way past time for a vote.
Musk made this bed and he will sleep in it.
FWIW: I am in no way condoning this behavior. Just an observation. I believe Musk is well on the way to doing the damage himself.
Cmon shareholders and TSLA board. It's way past time for a vote.
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Given FSD's record of crashes, people absolutely will be injured or killed. Musk wants his cybercabs to be like Waymo's (unmanned), but Waymo's are far more sophisticated. Remember that nearly all of the FSD crashes that make the news happened with someone behind the wheel (although generally not paying attention). Talk to Tesla owners who have tried or use FSD and most will undoubtedly tell you the system needs supervision. What happens when there's no one behind the wheel?
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Drop table users;
Ars Centurion
Teslas have already killed a ton of people.
Luckily they are a corporation and provide shareholder value so they will never be held accountable.
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Any word on what software they're going to be using? It can't be FSD as that's just a shitty L2.
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When deciding between driverless cab services, I always pick the one that entered my market for its lax regulation.
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The person using a feature called "full self driving" is still driving the car? Hmm, seems kind of misleading, doesn't it?
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Why on earth would you test something like this in Austin of all places?
City of insanely dense traffic on roads never meant to handle it.
Why not somewhere totally flat and relatively more spread out, like El Paso, Houston, or similar?
City of insanely dense traffic on roads never meant to handle it.
Why not somewhere totally flat and relatively more spread out, like El Paso, Houston, or similar?
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This is the perfect place to prove it’s unfeasible to have autonomous driving at all, and run out of vehicles due to crashes.
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Hot damn. I was not aware of this... courtesy. Cars operating at any level of autonomy should contain black boxes, ala aircraft, with the data being immediately available to the authorities. Being allowed to cover up the narrative of accidents that your vehicles are involved in is absolutely absurd.
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Fully autonomous plus sight-unseen was a much harder nut to crack than most anticipated. Uber dumped billions into trying and ultimately threw in the towel because they accepted the fact that we are decades away from it, if ever really.
Uber and everyone are trying to "progress" this technology just way to damn fast. Slow the fuck down and do it safely. We do not need it.
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Love the picture. Waymo is driving driverless cars around Austin. With their radar on the roof you can see them coming a quarter mile away. I have much less faith in Tesla auto driving software.
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The state will just preempt cities from doing anything, same way they treated plastic bag bans.
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During the testing phase Tesla will own the cybercabs and will be (presumably) be liable for the accidents where the cab is at fault. This may be a first for them, as testing on FSD was done with safety drivers who could be held at fault, and post-sale the owners could be held at fault.
What I don't get is once cybercab testing is over and Tesla tries to sell them, what company would buy a fleet of cybercabs and accept legal liability for mistakes made by Tesla's software, something the buyer has no control over and cannot opt out of.
The only thing that might possibly work is to make each individual cybercab be owned by a minimally insured LLC and if it crashes and kills someone, the victim can get the minimum liability payout ($30k in texas). But after one or two crashes, insurance companies will stop insuring them.
I really don't see how this is going to work as a business concept in any manner that would justify the development and rollout costs.
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Can't it be? I wouldn't take the bet that it isn't. I think they're just going to have a ton of crashes and other scenarios where the cars behave oddly or get stymied.
Either that or every single one of them will have a remote driver in a datacenter somewhere and the whole self-driving thing will be a smokescreen.
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Just a reminder that during Tesla's Autonomy Investor Day in April 2019, Musk promised they'd have "over 1 million autonomous robotaxis on the road next year".
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No, the city can’t do anything about it. The 2017 law gives that power to the state and local governments cannot override it, as the article explains.
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