Kind of sad that you feel you need to insert your dislike of a CEO into an article about a self-driving car. Do you look up political views of the exec team at Kroger and then not shop there as a result? More likely you shop at Whole Foods, but Amazon bought them and you may not like Bezos either. BTW Reid Hoffman, who has over a thousand messages with Epstein and traveled with him, is a huge donor to democrat party candidates. Will you no longer vote for democrats as a result? Of course not. Stop making tech political.
The sticker thing is silly. You don’t have to apologize for buying a Tesla. There are about 100K people working at Tesla, they deserve our respect for an amazing product that is way ahead of all the other car manufactures.
Obviously the technological advancements and possibilities in FSD are incredible (cameras, lidars, mapping, AI, data, etc).
However, what fascinates me more is the social possibilities - it's a topic of sci-fi... and it's happening now. We can imagine zero deaths and car accidents as well as sitting in a car ride without driving. But what about ordering a specific robotaxi for specific purposes during your commute? a sleeping taxi that comes with a bed pod, a working taxi that has a desk, a social taxi with round seating and a minibar. No more "wasted" time driving or being limited to merely a productive phone call or podcast 😄.
When this becomes reality, would you even want to own private car? Or maybe you own one and "rent" it out while you're not using it. This is a huge part of the AI revolution that will redefine work, leisure, income, and who knows what else.
Love the review and I’m thrilled for the future of cars (hopefully the fewer the better). As far as the CEO goes, I don’t see how democracy can be maintained when oligarchy is the natural order of things. it’s all very well wringing one’s hands in despair about democracy, but eventually we are known by our choices, not our words
The bumper sticker—“We Bought This Before Elon Went Crazy”—is a classic example of performative distancing. It’s less about genuine embarrassment over the product and more about signaling to others: “Don’t judge me; I’m one of the good ones.” Owners who slap it on their Tesla seem driven by a fear of social disapproval or even vandalism from a specific crowd that shares their disdain for Elon’s recent politics and public persona. They want the car’s benefits (great engineering, range, acceleration, environmental cred) without catching flak for associating with its creator.
Contrast this with how conservatives generally handle entertainment. The industry is overwhelmingly liberal—Hollywood, streaming platforms, music labels, late-night TV—and has been for decades. Yet most conservatives happily watch movies, binge Netflix shows, listen to pop/rock/hip-hop artists, and attend concerts without plastering disclaimers on their cars or social media like “We streamed this before we knew the director was woke” or “Bought these tickets before the band endorsed [progressive cause].” They consume the content for its quality or enjoyment and move on, even when creators openly bash their values. Sure, there are boycotts (e.g., over specific films or shows seen as highly offensive or agenda-driven), but they’re the exception, not the rule—and they rarely involve preemptive virtue-signaling about past purchases. (I’m not trying to make this conservatives vs. liberals; it was just the best example I could think of, i.e., the one with the most people consuming a product from folks they disagree with without “bumper sticker” caveats.)
It’s disappointing to see this kind of insecurity from Tesla owners and from Davud. The car is objectively excellent; Elon’s views (love them or hate them) don’t change how it drives or charges. If you’re proud enough of the vehicle to own it (and write an entire article about it), why feel the need to apologize for it on the bumper? It comes across as craving approval from the very people who might key your car anyway. Just enjoy the ride—plenty of us do without the disclaimer.
Nonsense. I literally feel the ill effects of Musk in my daily life. My sister and BIL are likely losing their jobs to DOGE, I’m having trouble finding work because Musk backed politicians who slashed the money my career depends on. I’ve seen Musk’s USAID cuts leading to harm with my own eyes.
If you want to brag that you can back and materially support someone this harmful and still not lose any sleep, you’re sad but you do you.
David, given the marvelous virtues of FSD you extolled, can you explain why Tesla has yet to get regulatory approval for driverless robotaxi service in any major city, when Waymo, Baidu and others have delivered tens of millions of robotaxi rides for years?
Musk has characteristically sought to solve a harder problem than any other competitor has dared, ie, move directly to Level 5 autonomy with fewer, vastly cheaper sensors. If anyone can overcome this challenge, it’s Musk. But this problem is FAR harder than catching recently rockets on a launch pad. The latter is a pure physics problem. The former has all the stochastic variability of the human race. And one more thing. If Musk’s success is truly around the corner, why hasn’t he allocated resources to designing a purpose-built, low cost robotaxi vehicle instead of wasting time and money on the Cyber Truck debacle. Just sayin’
My guess is that it’s not quite foolproof yet. From what I’ve read about the Robotaxi trials in Austin, they’re still working out the kinks. Maybe they haven’t even SOUGHT regulatory approval yet…
Of course, it raises a complicated question: Since full self-driving is genuinely a life-saving feature, what are the ethics of charging $8000 for it? Could that be said to be like a pharma company charging exorbitant fees for a life-saving drug? Hm….
Thanks for the review. My next car will likely be a Tesla.
I love the guy who defended and supported free speech. Surprised and disappointed that a journalist would not. Actually, I am not surprised given team loyalties in journalism in the 21st century.
Are you getting this kind of performance from your 2018 Tesla? I have a 2020 and my experience in LA has not been this good. It makes the same dumb turn going to a studio where I sometimes work every time.
Your observation about your nonagenarian father is the best lens through which to see how AI will change us all…the numbers of people who will be over ninety will compel the adoption of new technologies far faster than we might have imagined — and they don’t have to be perfect…just darn helpful.
Henry Ford was a Hitler admiring rabid antisemite. People still bought his cars.
Kind of sad that you feel you need to insert your dislike of a CEO into an article about a self-driving car. Do you look up political views of the exec team at Kroger and then not shop there as a result? More likely you shop at Whole Foods, but Amazon bought them and you may not like Bezos either. BTW Reid Hoffman, who has over a thousand messages with Epstein and traveled with him, is a huge donor to democrat party candidates. Will you no longer vote for democrats as a result? Of course not. Stop making tech political.
The sticker thing is silly. You don’t have to apologize for buying a Tesla. There are about 100K people working at Tesla, they deserve our respect for an amazing product that is way ahead of all the other car manufactures.
Obviously the technological advancements and possibilities in FSD are incredible (cameras, lidars, mapping, AI, data, etc).
However, what fascinates me more is the social possibilities - it's a topic of sci-fi... and it's happening now. We can imagine zero deaths and car accidents as well as sitting in a car ride without driving. But what about ordering a specific robotaxi for specific purposes during your commute? a sleeping taxi that comes with a bed pod, a working taxi that has a desk, a social taxi with round seating and a minibar. No more "wasted" time driving or being limited to merely a productive phone call or podcast 😄.
When this becomes reality, would you even want to own private car? Or maybe you own one and "rent" it out while you're not using it. This is a huge part of the AI revolution that will redefine work, leisure, income, and who knows what else.
Lol
When he was 5?
Love the review and I’m thrilled for the future of cars (hopefully the fewer the better). As far as the CEO goes, I don’t see how democracy can be maintained when oligarchy is the natural order of things. it’s all very well wringing one’s hands in despair about democracy, but eventually we are known by our choices, not our words
The bumper sticker—“We Bought This Before Elon Went Crazy”—is a classic example of performative distancing. It’s less about genuine embarrassment over the product and more about signaling to others: “Don’t judge me; I’m one of the good ones.” Owners who slap it on their Tesla seem driven by a fear of social disapproval or even vandalism from a specific crowd that shares their disdain for Elon’s recent politics and public persona. They want the car’s benefits (great engineering, range, acceleration, environmental cred) without catching flak for associating with its creator.
Contrast this with how conservatives generally handle entertainment. The industry is overwhelmingly liberal—Hollywood, streaming platforms, music labels, late-night TV—and has been for decades. Yet most conservatives happily watch movies, binge Netflix shows, listen to pop/rock/hip-hop artists, and attend concerts without plastering disclaimers on their cars or social media like “We streamed this before we knew the director was woke” or “Bought these tickets before the band endorsed [progressive cause].” They consume the content for its quality or enjoyment and move on, even when creators openly bash their values. Sure, there are boycotts (e.g., over specific films or shows seen as highly offensive or agenda-driven), but they’re the exception, not the rule—and they rarely involve preemptive virtue-signaling about past purchases. (I’m not trying to make this conservatives vs. liberals; it was just the best example I could think of, i.e., the one with the most people consuming a product from folks they disagree with without “bumper sticker” caveats.)
It’s disappointing to see this kind of insecurity from Tesla owners and from Davud. The car is objectively excellent; Elon’s views (love them or hate them) don’t change how it drives or charges. If you’re proud enough of the vehicle to own it (and write an entire article about it), why feel the need to apologize for it on the bumper? It comes across as craving approval from the very people who might key your car anyway. Just enjoy the ride—plenty of us do without the disclaimer.
Nonsense. I literally feel the ill effects of Musk in my daily life. My sister and BIL are likely losing their jobs to DOGE, I’m having trouble finding work because Musk backed politicians who slashed the money my career depends on. I’ve seen Musk’s USAID cuts leading to harm with my own eyes.
If you want to brag that you can back and materially support someone this harmful and still not lose any sleep, you’re sad but you do you.
Before anyone goes on about Bad Bunny, I’m well aware of that, and I covered those kinds of exceptions.
David, given the marvelous virtues of FSD you extolled, can you explain why Tesla has yet to get regulatory approval for driverless robotaxi service in any major city, when Waymo, Baidu and others have delivered tens of millions of robotaxi rides for years?
Musk has characteristically sought to solve a harder problem than any other competitor has dared, ie, move directly to Level 5 autonomy with fewer, vastly cheaper sensors. If anyone can overcome this challenge, it’s Musk. But this problem is FAR harder than catching recently rockets on a launch pad. The latter is a pure physics problem. The former has all the stochastic variability of the human race. And one more thing. If Musk’s success is truly around the corner, why hasn’t he allocated resources to designing a purpose-built, low cost robotaxi vehicle instead of wasting time and money on the Cyber Truck debacle. Just sayin’
My guess is that it’s not quite foolproof yet. From what I’ve read about the Robotaxi trials in Austin, they’re still working out the kinks. Maybe they haven’t even SOUGHT regulatory approval yet…
Have you seen this FSD story? https://x.com/Tesla/status/2020000686851912035
WOW…Man, that’s an amazing story.
Of course, it raises a complicated question: Since full self-driving is genuinely a life-saving feature, what are the ethics of charging $8000 for it? Could that be said to be like a pharma company charging exorbitant fees for a life-saving drug? Hm….
I just shared it with you in X. Let me know if that worked.
Unfortunately, I’m not seeing anything from you there. On X, I’m @pogue …
https://x.com/jjackbrandt/status/2019852423980875794?s=12 this is the original post.
I’ll try later as I got a “message failed to send” error.
Great article. I lived in Singapore and have never heard of there being lobsters there or any festival tho lol.
Thanks for the review. My next car will likely be a Tesla.
I love the guy who defended and supported free speech. Surprised and disappointed that a journalist would not. Actually, I am not surprised given team loyalties in journalism in the 21st century.
Apparently, popularity and “reputation” are way too important to you David. What are you, in high school?
No sense of courage to stand for what is right and/or reality?
The good news is that you did write this email in spite of Pop and Rep.
So you get Kudos for that.
But the Kudo bar is set very low.
Are you getting this kind of performance from your 2018 Tesla? I have a 2020 and my experience in LA has not been this good. It makes the same dumb turn going to a studio where I sometimes work every time.
BTW, Kind regards from NYMUG in the 80’s!
Sam
No! I should have mentioned that I’m now driving a 2021 Model Y…. and YAY NYMUG!! That’s where it all began! :)
You were Chair of the music SIG and I was chair of film and video. I also did the RAM upgrade class. Shout out to David Lerner, RIP.
Maybe next time Democrats shouldn’t be so slavishly devoted to rent seeking union voters rather than true technical innovators?
Your observation about your nonagenarian father is the best lens through which to see how AI will change us all…the numbers of people who will be over ninety will compel the adoption of new technologies far faster than we might have imagined — and they don’t have to be perfect…just darn helpful.