Everything Tesla *Didn't* Reveal at Last Night's We, Robot Event
AV luminaries poke holes in Musk's ostentatious reveal
On Thursday evening, Tesla hosted its flashy “We, Robot” event, unveiling its new Cybercab and Robovan hardware while wowing fans with drink-pouring Optimus robots. Of course, it later turned out that those robots were being remotely operated, not performing autonomously; that bit of subterfuge is perhaps a good metaphor for the event as a whole, which left Tesla watchers with more questions than answers and has since sent the stock down nearly 9%.
Even prior to the event’s kickoff, a number of AV and robotics luminaries were chiming in with potential red flags. Cruise founder Kyle Vogt reminded folks of the importance of collision detection and reporting. Google’s self-driving car program’s co-founder Anthony Levandowski noted that “the issue isn’t building the car without a steering wheel, it’s making the software work. There’s a lot of gap between driving around on a track at an amusement park and driving around in Los Angeles traffic.” Former Waymo CEO John Krafcik quipped that Tesla is not “serious about building a safe and accessible Robotaxi business." And current Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov added that many of Musk’s criticisms of Waymo’s own AVs are outright false.
Ottomate has rounded up some of the specific shortcomings and unanswered questions posed by these industry leaders, and added in a few of our own:
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