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by SketchySeaBeast 2623 days ago
There seems to be more than a few auto companies made in the last century[1]. I'm not saying he's not making these things better, but they existed previous to his invention - which bits of the lifter are completely novel? Complete automation would be entirely novel - it's not just a matter of finding a cheaper/better way to do it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automobile_manufacture...
1 comments
toomuchtodo 2623 days ago
Novelty doesn't define success. No car company has previously existed that is scaling towards 500k EVs delivered per year, with the capability to manufacture 135GW of energy storage per year. The Horndale Power Reserve in Australia has not only saved Australian energy consumers tens of millions of dollars, but proved that utility scale energy storage could be rapidly deployed and is cost effective.

If these problems are easy, why is Tesla the first to seek solutions to them? Why did Tesla have to struggle to prove the validity of EVs to the public while European car makers committed fraud with diesel emissions? If you're an established car maker, how bad at manufacturing, supply chain management, and product development do you have to be that you can't compete against Tesla with EVs? Questions are rhetorical.

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SketchySeaBeast 2623 days ago
Again, not saying the problems are easy, and that Tesla hasn't had success, I'm just saying in the case of the self driving car, novelty WILL define success. I'm saying this is a different category of problem for Tesla to solve compared to others.
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toomuchtodo 2623 days ago
Perhaps, although I think full self driving will be how my kids develop. They crawl, they walk, they observe, they mimic, they vocalize, they can associate faces with people. They've become inquisitive. They reason. They update their world model with input. Slowly, but eventually, become a full blown adult. But there is no switch that causes it to happen overnight, and I think full self driving will be the same. You will see a feature here (lane keeping), a feature there (red light detection), an improved feature (automatic emergency braking reliably using the camera and structure from motion to assist front facing radar in discriminating potential obstacles), and all of a sudden you find yourself in a full self driving car (just as one day I'll look at my kids and think, "you're people now!").
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