Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cybertruck Launch

tesla.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 592 posts

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#351

Post by metabagel »

alweirjt wrote: post #292
concordDance wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I continue to be puzzled by people's strong opinions on Elon. He's says dumb things on social media but there seem to be unusually strong sacred contagion effects from that. Buying petrol from Shell or cereal from Nestle? No problem. Buying a Model 3 from Tesla? No way! Honestly, I'd be surprised if there weren't a ton of people with the same views on immigration or trans issues or covid or whatever, each associated…

Elon isn't morally worse than my grandparents. It's currently much easier to rally people around things they hate than things they like or support. It seems like that was always true to a certain extent, but social media in particular has dialed it up to 11. Most of my coworkers and family define themselves by what they hate rather than what they like. I put a lot of effort into not going in that direction.

Did your grandparents buy a company and fire two-thirds of the empoyees, and then try to deny them severance?

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#352

Post by JeremyNT »

owenpalmer wrote: post #113

This is what we call vehicle weight inflation. As cars get heavier and heavier, the roads get increasingly more dangerous for smaller cars, which causes everyone to get bigger cars. And the loop continues.

I really feel like a smaller, more nimble car is superior to these land yachts.

You survive 100% of the crashes you avoid having, and it's much easier to avoid huge cars in a smaller car.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#353

Post by m3kw9 »

dkonofalski wrote: post #294
ahepp wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I disagree with you in principle, but it's interesting to note that Henry Ford published a four volume book "The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem". And Volkswagen was founded by the Nazis.

And what does that have to do with the people buying those cars now ? It would be one thing if people were buying those cars and that was still going on. That's why this is different.

It’s the media narrative that Elon is actively promoting antisemitism and you guys just suck it up like orange juice.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#354

Post by metabagel »

drexlspivey wrote: post #303
SkyPuncher wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m extremely skeptical to buy a Tesla because of Elon. He’s erratic and constantly making wild promises his company cannot keep. I have no problem with an eccentric CEO, but I do have a problem with the bald face lies he makes.

What other car companies are you boycotting due to their CEOs ?

People factor a lot of things into major purchase decisions, and it's really not a big deal to refuse to purchase a vehicle from one or more car companies. Some people will only buy a Honda, for example.

Personally, I don't want to fund Elon Musk's culture war bullshit. I don't like being lied to (FSD, and vehicle reported range). And I don't like their doing away with all of the instruments in favor of voice control and a single display.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#355

Post by metabagel »

richardw wrote: post #202
jehb wrote: post #89

I wonder how much the demand for this vehicle has changed since it was first announced. I was definitely on the bandwagon from this thing from the first time I saw it. Four years of Elon's dumb antics and I now absolutely will not spend a dime at any company he's associated with.

There are definitely times I’ll take on a personal cost because of my principles. But he’s pretty far removed from your actual life and there are other factors. There are good people in the company and it’s the best current shot at competing with eg China. Fair chance almost all electric cars are made by China in 20 years. I’d rather deal with a flaky CEO who also happens to generate massive economic benefits for my…

> There are good people in the company

There are a lot of reports that he doesn't treat employees well, at Tesla as well as Twitter.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/16/23833447/tesla-elon-musk-...

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#356

Post by argonaut »

Syonyk wrote: post #62
xp84 wrote: post #3

I'm rooting for it despite it being silly and not a practical pickup, strictly because every car people are buying looks identical (picture a crossover SUV from Toyota, Chevy, BMW etc. Basically shoe-shaped things). This looks like a concept car that would never come to market. I hope it sells really well and convinces others to bring actually-creative designs to market.

> ...because every car people are buying looks identical... Why wouldn't you expect this sort of convergence? A bunch of companies trying to solve the same problems with the same constraints are likely to find very similar solutions. We saw it with aviation - over time, jet aircraft look more and more like each other, because certain solutions, once they become available (twinjets demonstrating enough reliability for…

Car design is driven more by market analysis / price discrimination than engineering constraints. Engineering constraints explain some aspects of car design but they don't explain the generally conservative designs of a lot of automakers.

Take the new Toyota Prius, for example. The updated model almost looks like a concept car but still has a similar shape to other cars. There's no constraint reason Toyota couldn't have styled the car similarly in previous generations. I'm guessing they made the car look like this because Prius sales were falling and they decided they needed to be aggressive with styling for sales. They may have also decided that consumers that want a car with lots of cargo space are going for SUVs and crossovers anyways, so they could make the new Prius sleeker.

There are also tons of examples of automakers intentionally reserving nicer looking features as more expensive options or for more expensive luxury models. Fabric is not really cheaper than fake leather (both of these materials are just plastic). But automakers always charge more for fake leather.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#357

Post by DennisP »

huytersd wrote: post #54
xp84 wrote: post #3

I'm rooting for it despite it being silly and not a practical pickup, strictly because every car people are buying looks identical (picture a crossover SUV from Toyota, Chevy, BMW etc. Basically shoe-shaped things). This looks like a concept car that would never come to market. I hope it sells really well and convinces others to bring actually-creative designs to market.

It would be so easy to make this a practical pickup. I could get past the fact that it looks terrible in person if it had a usable truck bed. But the bed is so small and constrained that is basically useless

I live in a mixed suburban/rural area in the Southeast and I see very few pickups with full-size beds. I know somebody who was in the market for one and had a hard time finding it. Big cabs and small beds are what's popular, and in a lot of cases the beds look smaller than the Cybertruck's.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#358

Post by toomuchtodo »

Vicinity9635 wrote: post #310
toomuchtodo wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital nomad splitting my time between infosec gigs and personal project consulting. I go where there are interesting problems to solve.

I work remotely so I don't even have to go anywhere. But I definitely could with reliable Starlink in theory. I'd love to get more details on your setup. Hotels? Cafes? Or work out of a tent?

All of the above as well as couches of those I’ve met along the way. I can work anywhere with clear view of the sky.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#359

Post by sophacles »

golol wrote: post #258
sophacles wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well no, buying from Tesla gives Elon money and legitimacy. If you don't like Musk, why would you contribute to his success?

Musk may be an asshole boss and he may post cringy right wing opinions on X, but trying to boycott his businesses based on those actions is quite disproportionate compared to the behaviors whole industries are engaging in regularly. Elon and his companies are in no way worse for the world than the average car manufacturer or businessman.

Absolute rubbish. People are allowed to make purchasing decisions based on any criteria they want.

Re: Cybertruck Launch

#360

Post by DennisP »

blackguardx wrote: post #164
dgrin91 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both run by Musk and they have a lot of folks who have swapped between the two. In general they have very close connections.

I would be interested to learn how this works in practice. In many companies separate divisions barely collaborate or take learnings from each other. 2 separate companies sharing learnings is unique.

Separate divisions barely collaborating is not the case at Tesla either (or SpaceX). One of their mantras is "everybody is a chief engineer." They're all supposed to know enough about everything so they don't design parts that make trouble for other parts of the car, or for manufacturing. It's the reason they moved the new production line for the next-gen vehicle to Austin, so the engineers would be there for it.

I don't think it's that unusual for companies to collaborate with each other on projects. And some of the sharing happens by default when you just encourage employees to migrate between the companies and take their knowledge with them.

Post reply on HN