Photo: CFP / news.cgtn.com (modified)
People who've been following closely Tesla's handling of the whole Full Self-Driving Beta rollout from its beginning will have already made up their mind: autonomous driving isn't here yet.
Despite some undeniable improvements, nobody could honestly set a date for when we'll be able to put our feet up on the flat dashboard and engage in a hot session of video gaming while our car takes us to work as its AI is able to handle 99.99 percent of every possible situation that can be thrown at it.
"Well, that didn't stop Elon Musk from doing just that," you might say, and you'd be perfectly entitled to that opinion. However, a legal team will immediately point out that the company CEO never actually came out and said, "we've cracked it, it's ready, our cars are 100% autonomous." He may have implied each of those three was true on separate occasions but, generally speaking, there was always a little (admittedly, very little - much too little) shadow of doubt left, just enough to allow for an elegant back down when the inevitable happened and the promise couldn't be held.
Full self-driving - of the real kind, not the FSD Beta - was always "coming." It was either "nearly there" or subject of "regulatory approval", but never did Musk fully commit to saying Tesla was already offering a Level 5 autonomous car. He might have said the system was capable of doing Level 5 stuff which is a very good way of saying it's Level 5-ready without actually saying it.
A lot of people compared him to The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the character from the famous story that leads kids away using the beautiful tune of his pipe, and you can see why. Well, if the Pied Piper had to participate in shareholders conference calls, as Musk does, we might have actually found out more about his true intentions, and maybe even where he took all those kids.
The recent discussion focused on the thing that matters the most to all shareholders - profit - but it also included a weird quote from the Tesla CEO that will make anyone who claimed that FSD Beta was ready for testing on public roads look very stupid.
"We need to make Full Self-Driving work in order for it to be a compelling value proposition, otherwise people are, you know, kind of betting on the future. Like, right now, does it make sense for somebody to do an FSD subscription? I think it's debatable."
Where do we even begin. Well, how about with the first eight words? "We need to make Full Self-Driving work", which is another way of admitting it doesn't currently work. We know it, everybody with a set of working neurons knows it, but it's nice to see Musk make the admission. And, yes, after five years or more of empty promises, they do need to make it work.
"[...] people are, you know, kind of betting on the future." That's exactly what they're doing, and they're using real money - and a lot of it - to do so. Not only that but Tesla increased the price of FSD over the years, and we'd be very curious to know how Musk could justify that other than pointing out to the "high demand".
"Like, right now, does it make sense for somebody to do an FSD subscription? I think it's debatable", the quote ends, and can we just say "wow!". The difference between Musk's public rhetoric and what he says to the investors is as if one audience lived on Earth, and the other on Mars.
"Wait a minute", you'll jump in again, "Musk never made anyone buy the FSD suite. People chose to do it of their own will." That's true, but they did so on the back of ridiculously optimistic deadlines, an exaggerated description of the tech's performance, and clear insinuations that it was Level 5-ready. He didn't put his hand in their pockets. No, and that's because he's not a pocket picker, but a swindler.
"Well, that didn't stop Elon Musk from doing just that," you might say, and you'd be perfectly entitled to that opinion. However, a legal team will immediately point out that the company CEO never actually came out and said, "we've cracked it, it's ready, our cars are 100% autonomous." He may have implied each of those three was true on separate occasions but, generally speaking, there was always a little (admittedly, very little - much too little) shadow of doubt left, just enough to allow for an elegant back down when the inevitable happened and the promise couldn't be held.
Full self-driving - of the real kind, not the FSD Beta - was always "coming." It was either "nearly there" or subject of "regulatory approval", but never did Musk fully commit to saying Tesla was already offering a Level 5 autonomous car. He might have said the system was capable of doing Level 5 stuff which is a very good way of saying it's Level 5-ready without actually saying it.
A lot of people compared him to The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the character from the famous story that leads kids away using the beautiful tune of his pipe, and you can see why. Well, if the Pied Piper had to participate in shareholders conference calls, as Musk does, we might have actually found out more about his true intentions, and maybe even where he took all those kids.
The recent discussion focused on the thing that matters the most to all shareholders - profit - but it also included a weird quote from the Tesla CEO that will make anyone who claimed that FSD Beta was ready for testing on public roads look very stupid.
"We need to make Full Self-Driving work in order for it to be a compelling value proposition, otherwise people are, you know, kind of betting on the future. Like, right now, does it make sense for somebody to do an FSD subscription? I think it's debatable."
Where do we even begin. Well, how about with the first eight words? "We need to make Full Self-Driving work", which is another way of admitting it doesn't currently work. We know it, everybody with a set of working neurons knows it, but it's nice to see Musk make the admission. And, yes, after five years or more of empty promises, they do need to make it work.
"[...] people are, you know, kind of betting on the future." That's exactly what they're doing, and they're using real money - and a lot of it - to do so. Not only that but Tesla increased the price of FSD over the years, and we'd be very curious to know how Musk could justify that other than pointing out to the "high demand".
"Like, right now, does it make sense for somebody to do an FSD subscription? I think it's debatable", the quote ends, and can we just say "wow!". The difference between Musk's public rhetoric and what he says to the investors is as if one audience lived on Earth, and the other on Mars.
"Wait a minute", you'll jump in again, "Musk never made anyone buy the FSD suite. People chose to do it of their own will." That's true, but they did so on the back of ridiculously optimistic deadlines, an exaggerated description of the tech's performance, and clear insinuations that it was Level 5-ready. He didn't put his hand in their pockets. No, and that's because he's not a pocket picker, but a swindler.
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