Photo above – WestWorld autonomous rideshare, as imagined in 2020. Telsa Cyber-taxi, as imagined by Elon Musk in 2024. A step backwards?
Okay, before you object, Musk actually DID call it the Cyber-taxi. Go back and watch the press conference. Given the half dozen recalls of the Cybertruck, and insurance coverage cancellations by major auto insurers, you’d think ANY name would be better. You would think . . .
In any case, Musk's fortune is way down. "All the way down" (Westworld quote). Elon lost another $20 billion in a single day. See link below.
What else is wrong with the cyber-robo-taxi, besides the name? First, let’s acknowledge the good things. Elon did NOT claim it was bulletproof, or accidently break the window with a brick because he wasn’t allowed to fire live ammo at it to prove his claim. And the cyber-taxi (smaller than a model 3) won’t cost $60,000 (current Cybertruck out the door price). The cyber taxi is estimated to cost $30,000, when it finally arrives in 2027. Stop laughing. Elon actually said all those things too.
In the first 30 seconds it was obvious this car was DOA. Only 2 seats? TWO? What’s the target market for this? Certainly not families needing a taxi. Or a small group of business travelers at the airport. Pub crawl, anyone? You’ll need 3 cyber taxis for your party of six.
Did I mention that it appears impossible to fit full sized airline luggage into the shallow “boot”?
There are no door handles on the outside. The doors open automatically based on some electronic signal. Perhaps your phone sends a Bluetooth confirmation code to prove that you’re the actual passenger, and they open like the wings of a dover. But would you actually get into a “pod” without door handles on the outside, and trust that it has manual door releases on the inside? In case someone starts shooting, I mean.
But the worst news is right on the dash. I’m not griping that it has no steering wheel or brake pedal. I would have predicted that. For $30,000 you can’t expect frills and luxuries like those. But only ONE screen, in the center of the dash? For two passengers? Are they going to play paper/scissors/rock to decide who gets to use it? Even when I fly economy class on the cheapest American air carriers, I get my own screen on the back of the seat in front of me. The cyber taxi is lower status than flying coach on Spirit. And it won’t accommodate your checked luggage, either.
I’m just sayin’ . . .
Tesla Stock Tumbles After Underwhelming Robotaxi Presentation – Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) – Benzinga
Musk loses $20 billion instantly as the world rejects his “Cyber-Taxi” reveal.
byu/baltimore-aureole ineconomy
by baltimore-aureole
13 comments
The world grows tired of Musk’s shenanigans.
Elon is creating movie props for a 2004 Will Smith box office bomb. What could go wrong?
How will an emergency dispatch get inside the car to help with an emergency for someone locked inside this car if their are no door handles?
Remember when he said that you were going to be able to exchange the batteries on your tesla at a charge station and thats why they approved electric cars in the first place, and then elon axed the idea immediately after the approval? i do. his retarded taxi idea looks like he straight watched total recall too many times on ketamine. Tera-forming mars is a complete ruse and if the population does not see the bait and switch to mine minerals on mars, or at least announce significant deposits found to manipulate markets for profit, they are blind fools
Do you all just hate Musk so bad you don’t understand how products and manufacturing works? For the people in the back of the room, when you create a new product it costs money for R&D, manufacturing etc. This means that right of said gate a company is less profitable because they have to cover the cost of said product. Also, he didn’t lose $20 billion. His wealth is tied to Tesla’s stock price. He didn’t sell any shares, he still has the same number of shares today as he did a week ago. Relationally, if you look at any public traded company that issues a dividend (eg Apple) said company usually always takes dip right after earnings because they have to pay out said dividend. Funny how these things work.
Moving attention to another company of his for a moment, Space X. All of you realize he’s literally rescuing trapped Astronauts in space, right? Which means in the eyes of the world governments, Musk is untouchable. You all realize that of this morning Space X literally caught a rocket with a mechanical arm before said rocket touched down back on earth? Don’t get me wrong, I think Musk has some personal problems and I truly hope he has that 1 friend or 1 family member who can talk some sense in him. But for those who say he can’t run a company and is a bad visionary etc., you really don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.
Cyber taxis, or whatever they are called should have been stripped down versions of the model XYZ. If you wanna be cost effective make sure EVERYTHING is the same. All camera in the same place etc. No unnecessary differences to content with.
In a world where there are already self driving taxi’s….. all this seems MEH.
Just like the world is growing tired of Trump’s endless complaining, we are all getting tired of Elon’s continuous over promises and under deliveries.
Has been/always will be a joke of a human, but a joke with money is incredibly dangerous.
Starship seems to be making incremental improvements each time but I wonder how long, how many “successful” test fails, before it must be admitted that a fully reusable huge rocket is not worth the trouble? 20? More? Spruce Goose officially worked too but in the end was not worth the trouble.
He would have lost 20 billion only if he sold 20 billion worth of stocks that day.. he didn’t lose a penny. The one who did are those who sold the news at loss.
It’s not that they reject it, they just know Elon. By the way, congrats to SpaceX, but it has little to do with Elon, just like Tesla, it’s his engineers at those two companies.
As for Elon literally taking credit for self-driving cars, he’s way behind Waymo and Mercedes, and analysts know that.
He has nothing to show for his hyped over dramatized presentation.
He’s all smoke and mirrors, pure concept, no substance.
Real world cyber taxis are on the road now, and they’re not Teslas..
Too much multi tasking
I sold all my Tesla over the summer at over 240 and im so happy I did.
hes a con artist. The history books wont be kind to this man thats for sure.
Unrealized loss of $20 billion.