Epic fail

This is easily testable though? Why are folks waiting for a real life event instead of testing the scenario?

Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM etc etc were making fully electric cars before Tesla was even founded.

Perhaps Tesla have done a lot for the image of the electric car, but I fail to see how they are progressing the technology or access to it.

Musk’s single success is making electric cars ‘cool’. He’s not the best car manufacturer or employer or human being. Yes, recycling the batteries is a nice touch but it’s too expensive for most homeowners to buy one. And Tesla’s popularity perpetuates a car-centric culture that will become even less welcoming to cyclists if his crappy autopilot idea gets any more legs.

I fail to see how they are progressing the technology or access to it.

The last Tesla interviewee I listened to said they see themselves as a battery company that makes cars. Make of that what you will. The self driving data might also be useful.

In the main I agree with you, but I do think their development of the technology around electric vehicles may produce important developments.

his crappy autopilot idea gets any more legs.

I actually think AI will create consistently, and therefore more safely driven cars; no impatient accelerations, squeezing into gaps, aggressive close passes, aggressive misuse of the horn. No more sometimes forgetting to look when pulling out / turning left. They will probably prevent doors being opened into traffic, too. And, possibly most importantly, no-one at the wheel to get angry at. We waste so much energy fuming over the person at the wheel whom we perceive to have been rude / dangerous. Driverless cars will be entirely predictable, as cyclists we will learn their behaviour, and we can simply work around them. I'm glad you brought this up because I hadn't thought about it before.

It's all fine of course until they start self replicating and trying to wipe us out.

On topic

Mmmm Joe Rogan and fake smoking some jazz cabbage. Edgy af.

Pair of utter melts.

I'm not so sure about the battery tech. A couple of studies have shown that Tesla batteries perform no better than other ones in use, like the ones in Prius etc. And Tesla aren't the only company that recycle their batteries. Lead acid, Nimh, Li-ion, are all routinely recycled simply because the component materials are valuable and recoverable.

Sure, Tesla self driving tech might be good but once again, they're not the only company doing it. They aren't even the company who has been doing it the longest.

Cars schmars, I’m just impressed how good his hair transplant is. Do us all a favour and bring that tech to the masses already!

Hasn't a Tesla self driving car already killed a woman? Yeah they're nailing it.

And implanted a guy in the side of a lorry. It’s the future kids.

Autopilot cars don’t deal well with unpredictable things like pedestrians and cyclists. If they become the norm then I’d wager we’ll all be banned from the roads as it’s by far the easier way to solve the problem.

I thought that was Uber’s self driving car? They’re all racking up a few kills in the name of capitalism progress.

I think you underestimate how far the technology can go. There are simple prototypes of sensors at MIT that can literally see round corners, using shadows to identify potential hazards. In the next "few" years, cars might be able to see children hidden by parked cars before they are even in view and bikes before they have even turned into the same street as the car. It actually works pretty well already, on a very small and simple scale.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/mit-camera-see-round-corners/

Edited for better article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/23/creepy-things-ordinary-digital-camera-computational-periscopy-can-see-round-corners

It's going to take a while, but I'm pretty confident the tech will get there one way or another. Don't focus on refining what we have now, at the expense of ignoring what will exist in the future. It's human nature to dismiss the capability of nascent technology, and opinions like these are often wrong.

The last Tesla interviewee I listened to said they see themselves as a battery company that makes cars.

A Tesla battery is just a massive slab of 18650 power cells, it isn't rocket science... Wait, that isn't right...

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Once they all talk to each other and share sensors they'll be infinitely better than some guy half watching his phone too.

A friend of mine just bought several thousand of those for the house he is building. Long time with the souldering iron mind ...

There are some great YouTube how to videos, I've thought about trying it but I'd probably kill everyone within a five mile radius... #worstdiyguyever

So not #diyguyver

Teslas are so cool. I bet James Bond has one.

Bond is more likely to drive a Nissan Cube than a Tesla.

^ thought he was sponsored by Jaguar Landrover these days?

My friend attempted to show me his Model X dancing. It didn't do well as it lasted about 3 seconds.
Also as I walked towards it he opened the gull-wing door and it nearly gave me an upper cut. Black car in the dark, thanks Tesla.

Autopilot cars don’t deal well with unpredictable things like pedestrians and cyclists

Clearly they are not ready yet. But I think the aim is to program them to not hit people, and they will probably achieve this in a predictable way.

I think the aim is to program them to not hit people

It's the 'I think' bit that really makes this.