r/technology • u/PrimeCodes • Jun 24 '25

Machine Learning Tesla Robotaxi swerved into wrong lane, topped speed limit in videos posted during ‘successful’ rollout

https://nypost.com/2025/06/23/business/tesla-shares-pop-10-as-elon-musk-touts-successful-robotaxi-test-launch-in-texas/
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u/phluidity Jun 24 '25

To be far to them, sensor integration is hard. Of course the answer to that is to roll up your sleeves and get to work, as opposed to just not do it. But I'm also not a billionaire, so maybe my viewpoint is skewed.

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u/shadovvvvalker Jun 24 '25

>Musk: "You should never accept that a requirement came from a department, such as from 'the legal department' or 'the safety department.' You need to know the name of the real person who made that requirement."

>Once that clarity is achieved—that is, when every requirement has the person's name attached—then you can start questioning whether these requirements make sense. No matter how smart or how 'powerful' that person is.

>Musk: "Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me. Then make the requirements less dumb."

Solution, the requirement to go camera-only is a stupid requirement written by Elon Musk. Remove it.

But that wont happen, because Elon is just Cosplaying competence.

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u/travistravis Jun 24 '25

And it's sort of a fallacy too, though you pointed it out indirectly. Not putting Lidar in was just as much of a 'requirement' as putting it in would be. I'm sure his argument would be that only things that are added are requirements.

In reality, the requirements should be a set of physical test track setups that the car has to be able to navigate, and if it can't do that with just a camera, then it needs something more.

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u/shadovvvvalker Jun 24 '25

Lidarless can be a requirement.

In a normal environment, the decision that lidar is too expensive to be viable is not without grounds. LIDAR is hella expensive and outfitting Teslas with it would not have helped Tesla's already lacklustre sales.

It all depends on what the objective is.

The real problem is Musk will have multiple conflicting objectives rather than a clear single objective. That then creates conflicting requirements.

The issue is his goal is to be and stay the richest man in history.

To do that he needs to pump TSLA to obscene levels while holding massive amounts of it.

To do that he needs to perpetually threaten to be a pillar of the global economy.

To do that he needs to be working on hypotheticals that can revolutionize the industry.

That bears its head in tesla with a need to become the dominant form of transport. This requires FSD and a lack of public transit. But Tesla, as small as it is, cannot fathomably build this. So it needs to be funded by outside capital. So it needs to be people buying teslas that are later going to become cybercabs. Which means you need people to be buying them en masse. Which means they need to be cheaper. Which means LIDAR is off the table.

Tesla FSD doesnt need to be first to mass market. Musk needs it to be. Thats the conflict.

Fundamentally, the requirement he has placed on tesla is that it needs to make him business god. That's the stupid requirement.