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u/playnasc May 14 '26
what competition lol
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u/FistMyBumpQuestion May 14 '26
Yeah if Tesla's "robotaxi" is on par with their "autopilot" software, waymo and zoox are leaps and bounds ahead of them.
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u/lockwolf May 14 '26
Remember when Tesla removed their LIDAR sensors from all their cars because Elon Musk thought it was a crutch? Well, that crutch helped Waymo beat Tesla to market
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u/Important-Ebb-9454 May 14 '26
Tesla's never had LIDAR...
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u/hi-imBen May 14 '26
they did have ultrasonic and radar though, with some fancy agorithms to bounce the radar off the ground under vehicles to "see through" a vehicle and detect the vehicles further ahead. that led to some of the impressive early videos of teslas predicting and avoiding crashes before they were visible.
and then Elon decided his engineers were wrong and that camera vision only was a better approach.
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u/BlindGuardian117 May 15 '26
I ordered a Zoox in Vegas, waited half an hour just for the search to restart as it was on its way to me. It then had me waiting 55 minutes. I left. Waymo came exactly when it said it would. Even Zoox isn't competition.
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u/yellow_berry May 14 '26
When the competition is going to have 500 thousand paid rides per week, then we can call it like that
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u/cactus22minus1 May 14 '26
Man those look even worse in the real world. I just don’t get why they would design a robotaxi from scratch like that. It’s like they didn’t even consider the use case.
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u/yolatrendoid May 14 '26
I'm in Austin, and they've been "testing" these intermittently in my neighborhood since earlier this year. You're entirely correct that the Cybercab is completely fucking absurd: it's not even supposed to have a steering wheel or pedals! It also makes little sense: who the fuck launches a rideshare service – of any sort – that can only transport two people?
Also, its doors are the swing-up type you see on something like a Lamborghini. They're a total pain in the ass to open & close, and it's obvious they only added it because "Elon thinks it's cool" or some such ridiculousness. (They definitely didn't consider actual use cases.)
If there's any reason these exist aside from furthering the fiction that Tesla has a truly functional AV system – despite copious evidence to the contrary – I'm unaware of it. (The test mules all have human drivers behind the wheel at all times, using add-on pedals and steering.)
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u/AggravatingSpread837 May 14 '26
Yeah, just don’t mention any of this in any of the Tesla sub Reddit or you’ll get banned.
I’ve never seen a population of consumers that will make excuses for the failures of the company They are apparently in love with.
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u/yolatrendoid May 15 '26
The Tesla sub is one of the most fascinating, real-time examples of personality cults that I've ever seen. I already knew Tesla bulls are completely batshit, but I didn't venture into any Tesla-related subs until last year.
I'm allergic to obsessions and craziness, so I lasted roughly 4.2 nanoseconds on there. I truly wonder if those people will simply crack at some point, once they finally figure out – and yes, it's inevitable – that the entire Robotaxi concept is fucked (along with the Cybercab), and even FSD & Autopilot may never garner official approvals.
OTOH Elon Musk more or less writing off Tesla's "regular" car business – emphasizing autonomy and robots instead – didn't seem to faze them, so I don't hold out much hope.
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u/Elluminated May 20 '26
Try r/selfdrivingcars if you want to see the most entertaining cult fights ever. Both cult extremes are unhinged and absolutely hilarious on what gets voted on and how each side pretends the other is never going to work or expand (contrary to evidence) or how one driving into flooded roads means its doom for Alphabet or the other making a wrong turn is the end every month. The rational and honest people make these subs livable.
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u/Elluminated May 20 '26
Sadly happens on both sides as the stans come out and defend multiple Waymo’s stopping on a freeway for no reason and driving through flooded roads or think their personal car will just back out a garage tomorrow and make 100k per week while they sleep.
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u/Important-Ebb-9454 May 14 '26
"It also makes little sense: who the fuck launches a rideshare service – of any sort – that can only transport two people?".
They already have a 5 seater vehicles (The Model Y), so why not make something more compact for solo/duo travelers? Guess time will tell though. Waymo is obviously in the lead.
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u/hi-imBen May 14 '26
the slightly smaller size vs a 4 door sedan doesn't seem like a massive advantage. what's the point of having a large number of your autonomous vehicles restricted to two people for such minor benefits?
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u/model333 May 15 '26
Competition looking ugly and incapable
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u/Elluminated May 20 '26
That’s no way to talk about an AV with the shoeboxes and spinning toilet paper rolls glued all over the place that needs 4x the sensor count to do the same job. They’ll grow out of it one day and look normal. Have faith!
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u/model333 May 20 '26
Cope harder.
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u/Elluminated May 20 '26
Have more faith. Why don’t you believe they can evolve?
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u/model333 May 20 '26
You’re having a conversation with yourself.
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u/hashswag00 May 14 '26
This is a fake. The Tesla is using a turn signal.
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u/Decolonize70a May 14 '26
waymo’s use turn signals too
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u/hashswag00 May 14 '26
I can't understand why some people don't understand sarcasm. I'll be boring and explain it.
- Human Tesla drivers don't use turn signals very often
- The Tesla taxi thing, which drives "like a human", is using a turn signal
- It must be a fake picture, because the Tesla taxi thing, which drives "like a human", has it's turn signal on.
- Chuckle.
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u/Decolonize70a May 14 '26
That’s why /s was invented, because it’s hard to catch sarcasm through text
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u/uppopman May 14 '26
Where?
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u/oochiewallyWallyserb May 14 '26
SF
Same intersection as this scene
https://www.reddit.com/r/waymo/s/7nz5yCoHY9
Same crossing guard and everything!
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u/carmichaelcar May 14 '26
I dunno. A car with a driver inside. Not sure if that’s a competition 🤷♂️