This week was full of good news about Tesla autonomous driving efforts.
First we had the launch in Austin Texas of the Tesla robotaxi network. The service, as expected started as a limited beta, with a very small fleet, geofenced do Austin, invite only to a group of Tesla hardcore fans, and with a safety supervisor in the passenger seat.
More than words, take a couple of minutes to contemplate what we are talking about:
Remember this program is just the beginning, the safety supervisor will be removed and the geofence will expand over time. Great thing with tech it builds on itself, so this will only get better over time.
Polymarket a global betting platform gives right now a 67% probability of Tesla launching until the end of the year a fully driverless taxi service to the general public.
Second, and imho even more impressive, we had this week the first autonomous delivery of a Tesla from factory to a customer without anybody in the car. Yes, the damn car drove itself without a safety supervisor from the factory end of line to the customer house 30 minutes away. Again please take a couple of minutes and watch for yourself this modern time voodoo:
Full video to enjoy at normal 1x speed here.
As always it’s important to remember why you won’t see any of this reported on the main stream media, or maybe bluntly reported with a very negative spin. Global automakers spent $42.4 billion on advertising in 2022, yet Tesla spends zero.12
We are 3 and half years since my original post recommending Tesla and only 36% up, but now the cars can drive themselves.
- https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/automotive-ad-investment-remains-stuck-in-reverse-gear/en-gb/6123 ↩︎
- https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/automotive-industries-229055 ↩︎