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Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

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Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#71

Post by yoodenvranx »

peteretep wrote: post #63
yoodenvranx wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At this point, can it be anything other than full autonomous? There is no way that autonomous driving is going to work in most small European town and villages. There are so many downtowns which were never meant to be used by car and it is already difficult to navigate those places as a human. I just don't see how this should work over here in Europe. Selfdriving on the highway or in a typical suburban sprawl in th…

> and it is already difficult to navigate those places > as a human I don't know why a machine that has 3d perfect vision and knows exactly how big it is relative to its surroundings would be worse at this that a human bean.

Because in a lot of situations you are not alone on the road and you have to negotiate with other cars or people and decide what to do. There are a lot of single lane streets which can be passed in both directions and the car has sonehow have to deal with the incoming var on who should drive first or who drives backwards.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#72

Post by S_A_P »

gdubs wrote: post #55
S_A_P wrote: post #49

So I watched the Model 3 unveil. I found it to be pretty awful. I had seen Musk unveil the battery swap, and felt that he looked way more polished than he did in the Model 3 unveil. The reveal kind of stressed me out the way he was stammering over the words. It seemed as though he had either not practiced the script, not written one, or had a bout of stage fright. He really didnt "sell" the car. Just said yes its goi…

I read the Musk bio this fall and it gave me the impression this is Musk's typical style. Unlike Jobs, who would rehearse endlessly, Musk tends to be more off the cuff.

It may be, but as I referenced in my original post, he was much more polished and looked way more comfortable when he was comparing the battery swap to refueling an Audi. I just would expect that launching the "car that will save Tesla from bankruptcy" should have had a bit more polish.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#73

Post by bryanlarsen »

wmeredith wrote: post #27
po wrote: post #22

> The Model 3 will come with standard rear-wheel drive, with an option for dual-motor all-wheel drive. It better be fully autonomous if you've ever seen how rear-wheel drive performs in a north-eastern snowstorm. Sure, there's a lot of weight over the back wheels but that sounds crazy to me as the default.

Eh, you may be defeating your own argument there. The main reason that front-wheel drive is better in slick conditions is more weight over the wheels in the typical front engined car. Rear wheel drive may actually be better if the battery pack is sitting on top of it.

That's only part of it. The other reason is that on a front wheel drive car, torque is applied in the direction you want to go. On a rear wheel drive car, torque is applied in the direction you are currently going.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#74

Post by elorant »

lttlrck wrote: post #26
elorant wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a known fact that electric cars have superb acceleration mainly because they deliver all power from the beginning, in contrast to internal combustion engines that need to reach certain rpms to achieve the same thing. Even if it’s 6 seconds instead of 4 it still is an impressive number for a car at that price range.

6 seconds at that price point is pretty normal for a car portending to be a sporty. For example a CLA is in its price range and does 0-60 a tad over 6 seconds.

A CLA doesn’t have six seconds acceleration. The CLA 200 which in Europe is priced around €30k does 1-100 (or 0-60 miles) at 8,4 seconds. Unless you’re referring to the AMG version which does it at 4,6 seconds but costs north of €50k.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#75

Post by diamondtrim »

philfrasty wrote: post #36
yoodenvranx wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At this point, can it be anything other than full autonomous? There is no way that autonomous driving is going to work in most small European town and villages. There are so many downtowns which were never meant to be used by car and it is already difficult to navigate those places as a human. I just don't see how this should work over here in Europe. Selfdriving on the highway or in a typical suburban sprawl in th…

One scenario that I keep thinking about all the time: traffic in most south-east asian countries like Vietnam (Hanoi for example). The streets are occupied by a mix of cars, pedestrians (+ animals) and motorcycles. Everything moves ultra close. Must be a nightmare for every car proximity-sensor.

Lol, yeah. Asking for a self driving car programmed to follow traffic laws that can handle Saigon or Bangkok is like asking for a smart drone that can fly safely thru a tornado.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#76

Post by alexhawdon »

I'm as incredulous as the next person that a mostly self-driving car will be available by 2017-8 and that this will be it.

That said, on the way to full autonomy I can foresee a car that can handle 99% of the driving itself but calls on the driver to help out during the other 1%. In such a scenario the car may know where it is and isn't safe to drive, but not exactly where, or when.

Examples include the 1-lane, 2-directions-of-traffic rural roads. Unmapped car parks and private premises. Navigating around roadworks. Basically all the 'edge-case' scenarios people often cite.

The car could guess the route and you use a joystick to control the forward speed. You can use the joystick to change the proposed route as you drive. And if you wanted to leave the detected 'safe area' ("no, I really do want to drive into that car - it's a tow truck and I need to get on it!") you acknowledge a bunch of ominous warnings and control the car directly, albeit at a very low speed.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#77

Post by exhilaration »

friendzis wrote: post #65
danielhooper wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, the nose design bothers me. Looks unfinished.

A thing to note on looks: there will be a number plate to complete the looks. And remember there are at least US and European versions of that to consider in the design. This is entirely subject to personal taste, but Alfa Romeos' (e.g. 147) fronts look nice in PR, but look hideous with a number plate attached literally "wherever there is some space for it". New Audis suffer from similar problem: even though the numb…

A lot of American states don't require front license plates and their motor vehicle agencies will only provide you with a single rear plate.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#78

Post by hinkley »

phkahler wrote: post #28
grecy wrote: post #3

Unveil part 2 is "super next-level". And the "steering controls and system feels like a spaceship" And Musk tweeted a little while ago about getting a special team of Software Engineers reporting directly to him for self-driving that was "top priority" within the company. And there are no gauges directly in front of the driver at all, which has been confirmed to be like that for production. At this point, can it be a…

With the oblong steering wheel they mentioned and spaceship like controls, I'm thinking they just don't want the steering wheel sticking up in front of that awesome view. Perhaps an airplane-line yoke? There is the problem of the steering wheel needing to go multiple revolutions, but there do exist some variable ratio steering systems where you might limit rotation to +/-90 degrees but the wheel travel is speed depen…

My friend has a Prius and I hate driving it because the steering wheel isn't round.

Turns out the way I drive involves letting the wheel slip under my hands when going around corners, and you can't do that if the circumference of the wheel moves as it turns.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#79

Post by SkyMarshal »

wimagguc wrote: post #25
mattlutze wrote: post #12

I'm hoping we'll indeed see some tweaks to the nose -- it looks like a blank waiting for a cut-out to fit a grill and will leave the car feeling nearly-finished if it stays that way for production. Only bit that wasn't really a home run for me (for a pre-production, anyways). But otherwise... shooting for autonomous-first at launch will be interesting indeed. How would that effect the opinions of the folks now on the…

That mask started to grow on me: it makes the car look like a spaceship, and even more importantly, it sets it apart from all other cars out there. It's like the hatchback-shape of the Prius. I don't think anyone does actually find that attractive, but it's a great design to tell everyone from a distance that you're a better person than them.

Except a hatchback actually has a functional purpose, the Model 3's grill-less grill not so much.

Re: Tesla Intrigue Deepens with Musk's Twitter Barrage

#80

Post by rewqfdsa »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #58
rewqfdsa wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's going through a massive divorce that could cost him billions.

Assuming its 'his' to begin with. Not hers already?

I'm quite sure that Musk is the one responsible for the increase in value of his companies, not someone who's been uninvolved in running them.
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