Tesla Robotaxi • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#221

Post by echoangle » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:46 AM UTC

kshacker wrote: post #183

dv_dt wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially because every autonomous taxi fleet to date seems to have runs where they end up blocking roads and emergency vehicles.

Imagine if you could have one human operator able to go anywhere in the city for every 50 active cars ! Of course you can scale the number up and down based on actual needs. Kinda like Tesla AAA. Overhead will be less than having a driver per car and could be reasonable.

How long would it take for the single operator to reach a stuck car, worst case and average? I don’t know how it’s in the US but I’m pretty sure you could never get this certified in the EU, you can’t have your cars stuck and blocking traffic for 20 minutes before someone comes to get it unstuck. I think remote control would be much better for this.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#222

Post by buzzerbetrayed » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:46 AM UTC

dev_tty01 wrote: post #182

nateglims wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that market not served by a 4 person self driving car?

Or by a Waymo you can already use in a visit to SF?

Because roads exist outside of SF and Waymo should have competition.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#223

Post by echoangle » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:46 AM UTC

cryptoegorophy wrote: post #78

bagels wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You close the door yourself, and open it yourself. I was horrified to discover this.

What?? What if you don’t close it and just leave? I mean this will happen.

Well they know who booked the ride, so they will probably charge you for it or block you from riding again.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#224

Post by m463 » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:48 AM UTC

nikcub wrote: post #41

Here's an idea - take the Robocab car design, strip out all the FSD/autopilot stuff, put in a steering wheel and dash and sell it starting at the end of the year for ~$25k. It would sell +++

a ROUND steering wheel and add turn signal stalks!!

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#225

Post by rapsey » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:48 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #188

It's amusing that this was at the Warner back lot, which is out in Burbank. Not Paramount or Universal, which are both in Hollywood. It would have been embarrassing to do this at Paramount or Universal, because those are in Waymo's service area. People would have arrived at the event in real self driving taxis.

Waymos however need thousands of dollars of hardware to achieve this and only work in limited areas. Tesla's bet is a lot more risky but also with a lot more potential.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#226

Post by saturn8601 » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:48 AM UTC

conradev wrote: post #206

saturn8601 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Huh? Hyundai has Tesla-tier automated factories that churn out EVs, and they’re building plants around the world. I don’t think they care who buys their cars. They very much care if they are selling their cars to an entity that is striving to make them irrelevant. Think about it: If the world moves to a car sharing system where any type of car is available on demand and no one actually owns a car, do you think anyon…

Waymo partnered with Hyundai on the Ioniq 5 because Hyundai just rolled out the first Ioniq 5 from their Georgia “metaplant” literally yesterday. They’re one of the few companies mass-manufacturing affordable EVs in the US. Toyota doesn’t make many EVs and none in the US? Mercedes doesn’t make affordable cars in general? Waymo is clearly focused on cost reduction and EVs. Hyundai is clearly focused on selling as many…

>Waymo partnered with Hyundai on the Ioniq 5 because Hyundai just rolled out the first Ioniq 5 from their Georgia “metaplant” literally yesterday.

What does one have to do with the other? The I-Pace was built in Austria. They dont seem to care about where it was built.

>Toyota doesn’t make many EVs and none in the US? Mercedes doesn’t make affordable cars in general?

The Chrysler Pacifica was a gas powered vehicle, The I-Pace had a starting MSRP of ~70k. They didn't seem to care about propulsion method or cost of vehicle either.

What they do have in common is that they were both poorly selling cars made by manufacturers that were desperate to sell.

>Waymo is clearly focused on cost reduction and EVs. Hyundai is clearly focused on selling as many Ioniq 5s in the US they possibly can (and most to consumers directly!). I don’t know, seems pretty clear cut to me.

Any evidence to prove this assertion?

Going back to my previous comment I mentioned that an OEM could want to partner with them if they got something meaningful out of the deal. Seems like thats what Hyundai is getting: Waymo Tech transfer/possibly an exclusivity agreement.

>I also don’t see any future in which Waymo builds a metaplant?

I never said or implied that they would.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#227

Post by Vaudeville » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:48 AM UTC

porphyra wrote: post #157

mplewis wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, great! They put motors and wheels on a chassis with a screen and hardcoded them to drive in a loop. So impressive.

The demo is open to the eventgoers and lets you choose your destination. It's quite polished and a lot more advanced than "hardcoding to drive in a loop".

[dead]

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#228

Post by echoangle » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:49 AM UTC

porphyra wrote: post #66

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is true, although they could add that to a model 3. I wonder how Waymo deals with it.

The Waymo car has a speaker that tells you to close the door lol.

If Tesla pivots to this later, fans will be like „The best part is no part, that’s so genius!“

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#229

Post by AlotOfReading » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:49 AM UTC

acd10j wrote: post #213

AlotOfReading wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vehicles are dominated by the production costs of producing anything . You save surprisingly little producing smaller vehicles because the expensive bits are all the things you don't majorly save on like the production lines, the battery, the mechanicals, the wiring, the electronics, etc. Nicer interiors, paint options, and other consumer upgrades have extremely low marginal costs. They're pure profit for the manufac…

If you go down to basic physical material costs, Surface area of car, Metal cost, Glass cost etc, are the things which will determine car price in long run, So car which is weighting let's say 25% percent less can be be built cheaper compared to car weighting more. Less doors, less glass use, less paint, less material, less battery needed for same amount of distance, which brings down to cost.

I can assure you that you don't save 25%. Yes, there are small savings, but they're dominated by the fixed costs of producing a vehicle at all.

Re: Tesla Robotaxi

#230

Post by hyfgfh » Fri, Oct 11, 2024, 5:51 AM UTC

rapsey wrote: post #225

Animats wrote: post #188

It's amusing that this was at the Warner back lot, which is out in Burbank. Not Paramount or Universal, which are both in Hollywood. It would have been embarrassing to do this at Paramount or Universal, because those are in Waymo's service area. People would have arrived at the event in real self driving taxis.

Waymos however need thousands of dollars of hardware to achieve this and only work in limited areas. Tesla's bet is a lot more risky but also with a lot more potential.

Potential lawsuits