Farzad 🇺🇸 🇮🇷@farzyness
Underrated tidbits from Tesla Robotaxi event:
Letting Tesla Bot out in the wild amongst the public, even if teleoperated, implies Tesla is comfortable with liability, specifically regarding movement of the bot. This means they've largely solved the movement problem. Now it's largely a brain (AI) problem, not dissimilar from their fleet.
Also - there were a decent number of bots out there, and the design looked quite advanced. I think Tesla's moved away from prototype and into alpha testing. They are comfortable with what they have for large-scale manufacturing, and any upgrades - most importantly the hand - could be as easy as yank the old hand and forearm out, plug the new one in.
The leverage of teleoperated bots is obvious - even if you have a basic AI that can throw you an error when it has failed a task, a human can beam in and continue the work. You can probably increase leverage by 3x - at least. 1 human per 3 bots or something. This feels disruptive. I think teleoperation is a feature, and it will be how Tesla will gather data.
Tesla didn't say a peep about much rumored compact car - this means two things. Either they are not making it and we need to move on, even if they teased something like it in the quarterly earnings report... or they are making it and are solidly waiting for start of mass production.
Also - is the Cybercab design the compact car but without steering wheel and pedals? It is very interesting that the design of Cybercab is still "car" shaped, and not the monstrosity (I say that lovingly) of the Robovan. You wouldn't want the compact car to look too futuristic, or too out there, since it would be selling into the largest TAM in auto.
Also, the body of Robotaxi is clearly not stainless steel, but it could be a brushed or some sort of polished e-coat. e-coat is the layer manufacturers put on a car before paint goes on to protect the metal.
In order to save money on the paint shop, it would be hilarious if Tesla simply takes the ecoated parts, and then puts a protective layer on the car that can bypass the creation of the paint shop. Wouldn't put it past them.
Robovan is insane. I cannot believe that they are actually gonna make that thing. The more I think about it the more excited I get about its implications. RV life will change forever. Party buses. Transport of goods. High density urban travel.
Wild.