Tesla could have pursued an affordable model, but instead Elon pushed the robotaxi, and Elon said there was no need for an affordable Tesla model. If we assume that he actually expects to release the robotaxi at some point, and that he actually thinks it’s important for anything other than trying to pump up stock, then it certainly looks like his plans are more focused on fleet sales than trying to sell to consumers. Making cars less affordable across the board (and slashing any funding for public transportation) only helps that business model.
Lots of people will never buy a Tesla, but when you order an Uber and that shitshow appears, you can only cancel so many times before the app gets mad at you for it.
Human drivers was always a temporary thing for those apps, they’ll keep squeezing human drivers so they don’t have to pay maintenance on vehicles, but the second Muskmobiles becomes popular, there goes the closest thing to a job that’s been keeping a lot of people afloat.
There’s going to be a real negative effect when those disappear, even tho they’re barely jobs to begin with.
I think I saw a snippet from his biography where Franz (head designer) convinced Elon to make the car so it could also have a steering wheel so as to not get fucked if fsd doesn’t work out.
Supposedly took a lot of effort to convince him.
Guess that didn’t pan out in the end. Nothing about that car is designed for non robotaxi use.
Tesla could have pursued an affordable model, but instead Elon pushed the robotaxi, and Elon said there was no need for an affordable Tesla model. If we assume that he actually expects to release the robotaxi at some point, and that he actually thinks it’s important for anything other than trying to pump up stock, then it certainly looks like his plans are more focused on fleet sales than trying to sell to consumers. Making cars less affordable across the board (and slashing any funding for public transportation) only helps that business model.
Lots of people will never buy a Tesla, but when you order an Uber and that shitshow appears, you can only cancel so many times before the app gets mad at you for it.
Human drivers was always a temporary thing for those apps, they’ll keep squeezing human drivers so they don’t have to pay maintenance on vehicles, but the second Muskmobiles becomes popular, there goes the closest thing to a job that’s been keeping a lot of people afloat.
There’s going to be a real negative effect when those disappear, even tho they’re barely jobs to begin with.
I think I saw a snippet from his biography where Franz (head designer) convinced Elon to make the car so it could also have a steering wheel so as to not get fucked if fsd doesn’t work out.
Supposedly took a lot of effort to convince him.
Guess that didn’t pan out in the end. Nothing about that car is designed for non robotaxi use.