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If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

electrek.co

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Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#41

Post by Sparkle-san »

amazingamazing wrote: post #37
Sparkle-san wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's an effective conman for those with money that needs investing. His track record is objectively bad[0] and that doesn't matter as long as he can say the right thing at the right time to keep the stock high and his investors happy and believing that the breakthrough is just around the corner. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autono...

Plenty of people have gotten rich buying Tesla stock.

Right, that's the point. It doesn't matter if he delivers on his promises as long as people believe he will eventually and the stock goes up. People have also made money investing in Ponzi schemes but they're still Ponzi schemes.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#42

Post by newsclues »

HardCodedBias wrote: post #26
fieryscribe wrote: post #22

If McDonald's was profitable, they wouldn't try to franchise it. That's what this is. You take on operating costs and you understand your local market. They own the brand.

It's more than that, Tesla owns the brand, the manufacturing, and the software. They are much more than McDonalds. But indeed your comparison is an apt way to reply to this "article".

McDonald’s owns the brand, supply chain and real estate.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#43

Post by Sparkle-san »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #36
Sparkle-san wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's an effective conman for those with money that needs investing. His track record is objectively bad[0] and that doesn't matter as long as he can say the right thing at the right time to keep the stock high and his investors happy and believing that the breakthrough is just around the corner. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autono...

Many of his investors probably understand that they're holding a bunch of very expensive tulip bulbs but the opportunity to profit off of the greater fool is too great to ignore as long as they don't mistime the peak. With the amount of loose money sloshing around the global economy, he can probably continue riding this wave until some black swan event forces everyone to confront reality.

I think that's a pretty fair take on the situation overall. There is the potential of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX which might help him paper over the short-term issues Tesla is facing around deliveries, largely due to the public backlash around his political medling and DOGE.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#45

Post by pseudosavant »

fieryscribe wrote: post #22

If McDonald's was profitable, they wouldn't try to franchise it. That's what this is. You take on operating costs and you understand your local market. They own the brand.

One problem in your analogy, for McDonalds, the franchisee is the one who actually operates the business.

For the Cybercab, Tesla is the one operating it via "Full Self Driving", their app, and the Tesla rideshare network. As the owner, the only thing you do is own it, insure it, have a place to park it, and take on the risk of what happens if the vehicle registered to you is in an accident. Clearly, a pretty one-sided assignment of risk.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#46

Post by yellowapple »

newsclues wrote: post #42
HardCodedBias wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more than that, Tesla owns the brand, the manufacturing, and the software. They are much more than McDonalds. But indeed your comparison is an apt way to reply to this "article".

McDonald’s owns the brand, supply chain and real estate.

And the software, if the saga around the constantly-broken ice cream machines is any indication.

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#47

Post by amluto »

What an absurd lack of nuance.

Let’s consider the only major example of the alternative: Waymo. Waymo is expanding rather slowly, and I imagine there are several factors. Building the cars is capital intensive. Adding a new market requires some regulatory work, and it also requires acquiring and building a lot for the cars to park at and charge at. And hiring people to charge them. (The labor cost is a drop in the bucket — there is no reason to put serious effort into automating this.)

Perhaps Tesla wants to focus on its actual strength: building the cars. And perhaps they want to outsource the regulatory issues and the problems when all the cars get stuck in the same power outage, etc.

(I’m charitably assuming here that Tesla can actually build a viable robotaxi.)

Re: If a Tesla Cybercab fleet were profitable, Tesla wouldn't sell you one

#50

Post by esarbe »

amazingamazing wrote: post #27

I may buy one if it works. It would pay for itself in about 3 years. Parking where I am at is about $50 a day. If this thing can drop me off and go make me money it is a no brainer. Skeptical it will work as advertised, though.

What if it gets damaged or a drunk customer vomits into it or otherwise soils it?
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