“Whether you hate me, like me or are indifferent, do you want the best car, or do you not want the best car?” [Apartheid Manchild] told audiences at an event in November.

Well, for starters I don’t want a car at all. I’d rather use public transit. You know, an actually effective means of reducing emissions.

If I were in the market, yes, I would want the best car. Which is why I’d never buy a Tesla. I’d buy an XPeng or a BYD or the like.

  • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    17 days ago

    The Muskrat is the reason why I can’t even feel good about anything SpaceX does. Every time they do something to propel space exploration forward, all I can think about is how he and his cronies are going to use it to privatize space for profits.

    • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      The alternative needed to be NASA, slow, methodical, maximum safety, maximum consideration, with patents benefiting society instead of a private class of shareholders who see it as just another gift in their portfolio.

      Instead, we gave away the future to reckless profiteers, and starved the correct, societal scale project of growing beyond our world that could have provided a sense of common purpose and accomplishment as Mercury and Apollo did, which given we’re at each other’s throats would have been useful.

      We won’t get anywhere with people like Musk or any other avarice obsessed profiteer at the wheel, only heartbreak in trusting human lives to them as they cut corners and overpromise their capability.

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Blame the Boomers on this one. They got the moon landing as kids and then thought the rest was boring so they cut funding once they made up a large part of Congress in the mid 80s.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        FWIW spacex doesn’t actually have a lot of patents for their ships. Patents mean making things public but hold society back for the duration of the patent.

        SpaceX treats it’s rocket stuff as trade secrets so countries like China that don’t respect patents can’t use it. However, if someone does figure it out on their own, SpaceX has no protections.

    • rezifon@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      Every time they do something to propel space exploration forward. . .

      Musk is trying to build the Dune future, not the Star Trek future

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          15 days ago

          The thing about Elysium is that if they created it with modern tech itd be somewhat trivial for a resistance group to starve out the ones in space at least. Just a recoilless rifle with a targeting computer probably running Linux mounted to the back of a Toyota hilux would be more than enough.

          • Rolando@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            That might work once or twice, but I suspect the rich would just launch their supplies from an island, or from a very large “Green Zone.” But I’m guessing the space station would be very susceptible to sabotage or a suicide attack, or something.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      16 days ago

      Honestly SpaceX is WAY overrated.

      Yes, they have some good engineers, i dont doubt that, but:

      They still haven’t been able to replicate what NASA did way back in the 60s with a bunch of rulers, they still haven’t gone beyond low earth orbit.

      Their heavy rocket’s best attempt got it empty into an unstable spinning Leo, and thanks to fucking musk it destroyed a launchpad, polluting kilometers around which I’m sure they cleaned up, right?

      They’re entire shtick was that they’d be super cheap and they’re fucking expensive, even after everything they have done is basically funded by tax payers.

      All that is steered by a lying narcissistic psychopath who now uses his crashing Twitter system to get a dictator elected. The guy is like trump, every second word out of his mouth is a lie. Seriously every project he coined was bullshit, every claim he made was bullshit, none of it happened. Hyperloop, anyone? It killed high speed rail, so yeeeeiii? Tesla’s with rocket engines? Ballistic missiles to transport humans across the globe in 30 minutes? The boring company making tunnels 1000x cheaper? And SpaceX? We will be on Mars in 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026, for sure! They’re still in Leo, which is the (relatively) easy part of getting humans to Mars…

      ALL of it, bold lies.

      So yeah, I honestly think that SpaceX is not really helping space exploration forward. I think it’s 90% bloat aimed at getting as much money for musk as possible

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        They still haven’t been able to replicate what NASA did way back in the 60s with a bunch of rulers

        A bunch of rulers and a LOT of money and industry, courtesy of tax dollars. It was basically a concerted national effort.

        I’d say SpaceX is doing great given modern financial constraints for spaceflight.

      • Ænima@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        Getting to Mars is a cover.

        Musk is using his fortune, tax dollars, and rich investors to develop the means for the rich to escape the hell they’ve created and/or the mobs of common folk that will surely beat down his, and other wealthy oligarchs, doors when society inevitably flops. That’s why he’s ignoring regulations and laws like they don’t matter to him. When your entire purpose is to help the rich escape their fate, you don’t give a fuck about rules.

        He’s an accelerationist with more money than god.

    • Nurgus@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Every time i hear about SpaceX, I wonder how much further along we’d be if we had proper taxes and gave the money to NASA/ESA. Even if the answer is “about the same” then at least they treat their engineers well.

      • Eugene V. Debs' Ghost@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        15 days ago

        Every dollar SpaceX spends, NASA gets it done with a fraction of the budget. The James Webb took forever but it was worth it. SpaceX would have trashed it for a tax write off.

  • Stern@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    The best car

    Teslas aren’t even the best electric car. On top of that I would 100% want a Rivian over a cybertruck. Yeah goofy headlights… but better then a wholeass goofy body.

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    17 days ago

    He went from “genius” to “dumbass” when he announced his hyperloop a decade ago, and finally to “someone I have perfect hatred for” in less than a few months given his recent conduct. I don’t want his cars, I don’t want his robots, I don’t want to see his face ever again. He’s a piece of shit. If he died, I’d be in line to piss on his grave.

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        17 days ago

        At least the toyota guy is lifting his legs and putting some effort into that jump.

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        17 days ago

        For some reason it reminds me of Stuart the Look What I Can Do kid from MADtv. It’s the expression on his face and his half assed effort to jump in the air with like feigned enthusiasm.

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          15 days ago

          Top Gear, they absolutely wrecked that truck and it kept running with some basic repairs and maintenance. Even demolished a building with it on top and got it running again.

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      17 days ago

      Politics aside, if Musk wasn’t in charge of Tesla, Tesla would make better cars.

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          17 days ago

          And even if they did decide to make a useless truck, it probably wouldn’t have five recalls in the first year.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          I’m not sure why you put the big rig in the same loony bin as cybertruck. We need to get diesel out of that industry as well, and Tesla Semi seems to be the most advanced contender and has had great reviews from pilot customers

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              Yes, it’s a bit heavier than a Diesel, reducing the maximum payload. However not all trips are at the maximum weight.

              Yes I’ve read “armchair generals” proclaim it’s too heavy to be useful, but I’ve also read reviews from it in actual use where it’s worked really well. What I have NOT read is anything about what percentage of trips that reduced payload weight would affect.

              Apparently they have happy pilot customers, enough to plan on mass production and to start building chargers

              Edit: fascinating plan to build out zero emissions truck corridors covering most of the us by 2040. We need this to pan out!

              This looks like a great plan to build out a useful charging network relatively quickly, so manufacturers can start ramping up production and sales

              I also like that it covers both charging for EV trucks and hydrogen refueling. While I’m not convinced that hydrogen is anything more than oil companies trying to remain relevant, it does have some advantages - let the market decide what mix of technologies works!

              • They have happy customers for the Cybertruck. Doesn’t make that any less of an idiotic waste of metal.

                And Tesla has a long history of “planning” things that never quite come to be. I won’t be holding my breath on any kind of mass rollout of their semi rigs. If it happens, colour me surprised. Until it happens, though (and I mean really happens, not fake events like the recent robotaxi and optimus one), I will cheerfully say that it won’t happen.

                Because looking at Musk’s grand pronouncements, the odds are on my side.

                • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                  15 days ago

                  It seems like it mostly comes down to the 4680 batteries - is Tesla really scaling up? They should allow facilitate significant cost and weight improvements over older batteries, and there have been promising announcements this year

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 days ago

      I wanted a Tesla so badly until… well, Musk went crazy, and also very importantly they DON’T HAVE VEHICLE TO LOAD, which is insanely important to me.

  • barsquid@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    I do want the best car. I am rejecting Tesla as an option mostly on that basis. But it also feels nice to avoid directly giving money to Trickle-Down Elmo.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Friend ran afoul of the Tesla’s Drive-By-Wire. She had her car on automatic drive and it was speeding towards the bumper of another vehicle. She slammed on the brakes, but because the system has to switch from automatic to manual, the brakes didn’t engage for a critical second. So she ended up jamming her car into the rear end of the vehicle in front of her, and her system recorded the event as “human error”, because she was at the wheel when the collision occurred.

    Now she’s out several grand in repairs that her insurance won’t cover, because she failed to let Tesla’s autodrive system take responsibility for the collusion by trying to prevent it.

    Stories like this are what make me incredibly hesitant to buy a Tesla.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      16 days ago

      As someone who owns a Tesla, I can attest this isn’t how the brakes work. We’d heard similar rumors to this effect and it was the first thing we tried on the test drive. The brakes are 100% functional 100% of the time, regardless of driving assist.

      Even if “full self driving” (quotes intentional, that shit is not fully self driving) did cause an accident, the driver is perfectly capable of avoiding it by braking or taking over steering.

      P.s. Fuck Elon Musk

      • NocturnalEngineer@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Is that true for all Tesla models though? I was under the impression the newer models had blended braking, which would make this story somewhat plausible.

        • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          Blended braking is when it uses the brakes to supplement low regen when the pedal is released.

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          16 days ago

          To the best of my knowledge, which includes a few minutes online trying to prove myself wrong, the brakes on all Tesla models are straight friction - no blending. Regenerative braking only happens when the accelerator is released. The friction brakes alone are sufficient to kick in ABS, so regen isn’t needed to help stop the car.

          After giving it some thought, I suspect the car wasn’t stopping fast enough, so the driver took over and just didn’t brake hard enough to prevent the accident (possibly because they were anticipating some amount of assist from regenerative braking). Underestimating how hard to brake is very common and is one of the primary reasons behind adding automatic braking systems.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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      16 days ago

      I hate Tesla as much as the next guy but this sounds very odd.

      It’s hard to believe that it’s possible to sell a car in 2024 that doesn’t apply the brakes when you press your foot on the brakes.

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        16 days ago

        Because it’s probably bullshit. Elon Musk is a colossal problem, so people feel justified in whatever lies come to mind.

        • The Cybertruck has steer by wire BUT NOT BRAKE BY WIRE. No other Tesla has any such system. The brakes in all Teslas are traditional.

        • The question of who pays when you have an accident with autopilot has basically been settled in court: the normal rules of fault apply. If autopilot is at fault, then you’re at fault. If you’re in control, and you’re at fault, then you’re at fault.

        The idea that an insurance company says, “Oh, we won’t cover it because you deactivated autopilot” is outright silly. Ignore the autopilot thing for a second. What happens when you rear-end someone? Your insurance covers it based on your coverage, and your premiums probably go up significantly.

        The driver was supposed to be in control, of a vehicle with traditional brakes, and hit a car. If they have coverage, it should be handled just as if autopilot weren’t involved at all unless they can prove that Tesla is at fault.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        It does apply brakes. It just takes time for the system to shift over between modes. But when you’re in the middle of a collision, even a moment of latency can be the difference between braking in time and impacting the vehicle ahead of you.

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          16 days ago

          A plane doesn’t have to deal with hitting other planes thanks to traffic collision avoidance systems and air traffic control, Airbus planes are built to a ridiculous degree of safety and redundancy, and commercial pilots are trained to a much, MUCH higher degree and standard than your average car driver. Fly-by-wire aircraft and drive-by-wire vehicles are not even remotely comparable given the surrounding factors a car has to deal with versus an aircraft. There is a reason there have been so few accidents involving Airbus aircraft despite being so heavily computerized, while Teslas regularly get into accidents.

        • Mossheart@lemmy.ca
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          16 days ago

          Yes. A missile whose pilot undergoes much more training than the typical car driver.

        • SoJB@lemmy.ml
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          16 days ago

          This comment demonstrates such an incredible level of ignorance of aviation safety culture, road vehicle regulations, and the decline of capitalism that was predicted down to a tee by some fucks that had to lock themselves in their room and think of it with no computers or internet 100 years ago, that all I can even say is:

          Lmao

    • thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      switch from automatic to manual

      This had me confused for a second, as these are types of transmissions. Wouldn’t ‘A.I.to human’ driving be a more accurate description?

    • Oascany@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      As other commenters have said, this is just not how the system works. Something was misunderstood or some context was probably lost somewhere. I have driven a new-ish 2021 Model 3 as a daily, and there are basically 2 modes of auto driving. One is autopilot, which is very similar to adaptive cruise control with lane-keep assist in other cars. Then there’s full self-driving, which is supposed to be you entering a destination and your car will take you there with minimal interference. You also need to pay out the wazoo for that FSD functionality. Tesla needs you to be vigilant in both cases, and you’re responsible for a crash in both cases. Now onto the brakes, in either system, when you press the brakes, the car immediately applies brakes. On occasion, it’s taken the automated driving system a second to shut off when I apply the brakes, but I have always felt the brakes immediately kick in. Teslas at the moment do not have brake-by-wire. They have throttle-by-wire (duh, EVs), and steer-by-wire on some of the more recent higher end models. All of them have a hydraulic braking system where your foot on the pedal is immediately converted to braking pressure. Your friend is mistaken, and the crash is their responsibility for not maintaining vigilance. Afaik, very few companies are at self-driving tier 3, which is where the company would be responsible for a crash. Tesla is not there yet.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        As other commenters have said, this is just not how the system works.

        I’ve got the dashcam footage and I know the driver. She can tell me when she hit the brakes, and she says she had the peddle as far down as it would go. The car didn’t begin decelerating in the same way an analog breaking system would have. That cost her a critical second and resulted in her rear-ending the vehicle in front of her.

        All of them have a hydraulic braking system where your foot on the pedal is immediately converted to braking pressure.

        Then maybe the breaks were bad. Idk. But she had plenty of lead time (presumably thanks to the super-advanced cruise control or whatever you want to call it) at the beginning of the video. The vehicle simply didn’t stop in time.

  • VantaBrandon@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    They used fake robots at their latest event. They were secretly controller by humans. Tesla is a scam company.

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    17 days ago

    My Tesla desire journey has gone from feeling like I was chasing a magical unicorn from the future to not wanting to go anywhere near it. I am planning on buying a new car in the next couple of years and I’d love it to be an EV with good range and short charging times but I don’t think it will be a Tesla now.

    • tea@lemmy.today
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      17 days ago

      Same thing with Twitter. I went from seeing a linked/embedded tweet and clicking it to really having a bit of a crisis in the form of: “do I really need to click on that or can I do literally anything else to get the same information?” (e.g. how I saw facebook/instagram links before)

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    16 days ago

    I’ll never buy one, and it’s 66% because of him. The other 34% is the fact Tesla’s are shit quality vehicles. Geico literally refuses to insure the cyber cuck. I didn’t misspell that.

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    16 days ago

    That and because they have the build quality of a 1980s Yugo but the price tag of a brand new Jaguar.

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    17 days ago

    True, I was in the market for the last 6weeks. Tesla is well priced and equipped, but Musk is so awful they weren’t a consideration.

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        17 days ago

        Compared to other electric cars that were on my list. The model Y compares fine to the Blazer EV, the Cadillac Lyriq, the EV 9 and similar.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        For me, a Tesla Model Y got the full US rebate and MA state rebate and I bought it after a significant price drop. My cost was very competitive, and the vehicle is still more advanced than most legacy manufacturers models

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    17 days ago

    If you want a new car and you want it to be electric, I’d go with a small car made by Hyundai or BYD.

    That’s the most sensible purchase financially and environmentally imo.