Elon Musk/Tesla

[Sundayjumper]

There's talk of them actually investigating his original Canada--> USA move when he dropped out of uni, and related Visa shenanigans to get to officially declare him a persona non grata. That would be bona fide hilarious.

I'm still not convinced any of this will happen.

TACO, remember ?

[Jobbo]

There's talk of them actually investigating his original Canada--> USA move when he dropped out of uni, and related Visa shenanigans to get to officially declare him a persona non grata. That would be bona fide hilarious.

I'm still not convinced any of this will happen.

TACO, remember ?

That’s a fair assumption. But if Trump’s hangers on like Steve Bannon maintain their anti-Elon stance then there could be a more general will to get rid of him.

All it would take is to legislate that businesses owned by illegal aliens can’t receive government money first and he could be fucked.

[DaveE]

Tesla sales collapse in Europe:

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/05/te ... n-germany/

I keep seeing these headlines

"Sales down 80% in Portugal" or whatever

But how many did they ever sell in these countries?

And across the whole of Europe, what's that as a % of global sales?

Every time I see large percentages mentioned (anywhere) I always assume the actual numbers are quite small

Tesla was the largest manufacturer in European EV sales for 3 years

It may well have been, but I wonder how much of Tesla's total sales are from Europe?

[Rich B]

I keep seeing these headlines

"Sales down 80% in Portugal" or whatever

But how many did they ever sell in these countries?

And across the whole of Europe, what's that as a % of global sales?

Every time I see large percentages mentioned (anywhere) I always assume the actual numbers are quite small

Tesla was the largest manufacturer in European EV sales for 3 years

It may well have been, but I wonder how much of Tesla's total sales are from Europe?

a quick search suggests US and china are about 600k each, then europe is around 250k.

[Sundayjumper]

There's talk of them actually investigating his original Canada--> USA move when he dropped out of uni, and related Visa shenanigans to get to officially declare him a persona non grata. That would be bona fide hilarious.

I'm still not convinced any of this will happen.

TACO, remember ?

That’s a fair assumption. But if Trump’s hangers on like Steve Bannon maintain their anti-Elon stance then there could be a more general will to get rid of him.

All it would take is to legislate that businesses owned by illegal aliens can’t receive government money first and he could be fucked.

This is all true - but - there's an element of mutually assured destruction too. Musk could turn off Starlink & cancel all future SpaceX flights. The government has a reliance on both. Not to mention the data DOGE has collected that he could pass on to <anyone>.

There's a lot of behind the scenes dynamics we don't know and probably never will fully know. It could go either way. So for now I'm sticking to my position that until one side does something concrete, this is all just words.

(I'm NOT batting for Musk, btw, I'm just stocking up on popcorn)

[Beany]

I'd guess that Bannon whispering in Trumps ear to Eminent Domain* the whole of fucking SpaceX is what's caused Musk to piss his pants. Trump loves Bannon.

I saw whispering it in his ear - he publicly stated they should do it within the day. I bet Musks people at SpaceX got a phone call and sent someone round to kick him out of bed for that one.

*or whatever the US term is for a hostile nationalisation of an industry

[mik]

Interesting presentation of the footage from the car

fatal tesla self-driving incident

Spoiler

Why TF was that lady where she was ?

[Jobbo]

People are going to have to get used to not warning traffic of incidents ahead because Teslas don't see them. Tragic situation. I said on a PH thread about that incident that it seems Tesla's FSD does not have as part of its programming, "Always be able to stop in the distance you can see".

[Beany]

Being confidently wrong is better in Teslas eyes than being careful and right.

After all, I'm sure the self drive functionality turned itself off just before impact, so it's the drives fault.

[Simon]

TBF it is also the drivers fault. No way I'd let a car continue at that speed into a 'blind' situation on autopilot. Was the driver having a nap or a wank?

[Beany]

Oh, I don't disagree. But this is fundamentally the same hardware and software they expect to have in robotaxis next month, as I recall.

Which are (ultimately) not meant to have human oversight. Although you can bet your boots they'll be telepresenced up the wazoo.

So that'll go well

[Ascender]

As a driver though, there's more than few warning signs in that clip where you would take some sort of action in order to prevent it escalating. So its weird that there's no programming in the Tesla to do the same and force driver intervention?

[mik]

I read a comment elsewhere that this car was running FSD v11, whereas v12 has been out since early 2024. No idea if that is true, what the differences are, whether v12 would have fared any better, or whether we're just looking at a limitation of camera tech vs lidar (?)

Regardless - agree with the above - there were several visual cues to "abnormal situation" that Tesla FSD clearly didn't pick up on. Assume the driver was doing wordle or shutting his eyes to shield them from the sun.

[Rich B]

Mowing down pedestrians? nah mate, we programmed that out in v12 - if you want to keep on doing that you’ll have to jailbreak it and install v1 to v11.

[Ascender]

Like EVs, as someone who's worked in technology all my life, hearing things about basic functionality in cars not working because they're at an older version, or need the car to be rebooted, just fill me with absolute fear.

[DaveE]

I read a comment elsewhere that this car was running FSD v11, whereas v12 has been out since early 2024. No idea if that is true, what the differences are, whether v12 would have fared any better, or whether we're just looking at a limitation of camera tech vs lidar (?)

Regardless - agree with the above - there were several visual cues to "abnormal situation" that Tesla FSD clearly didn't pick up on. Assume the driver was doing wordle or shutting his eyes to shield them from the sun.

And I wonder who's liable if you're not running the latest software?

[DaveE]

I was just listening to “The Rest is Politics” podcast and Rory Stewart used a great analogy to try and explain Musk’s $400bn wealth, and the differences between a million and hundreds of billions

A million seconds is about 11 days

A billion seconds is nearly 32 years

400 billion seconds is just over 12,500 years

The point being, we hear these numbers thrown around, and most people have no comprehension of the scale/difference between millions and billions

But the difference between a million Dollars and Elon’s $400bn is the difference between 11 days and and twelve and a half thousand years

[mik]

It’s ridiculous, but…. If you don’t give it to the needy - what do you do with it?

Own a thousand cars - which one do you drive?

Own 50 properties all over the world. Which one are you staying in tonight?

One four thousand pairs of trainers. Which one are you wearing?

We all want things, but when buying a McLaren is as easy as buying a mars bar, it probably becomes as satisfying as buying a mars bar. I assume.

[DeskJockey]

It’s ridiculous, but…. If you don’t give it to the needy - what do you do with it?

Own a thousand cars - which one do you drive?

Own 50 properties all over the world. Which one are you staying in tonight?

One four thousand pairs of trainers. Which one are you wearing?

We all want things, but when buying a McLaren is as easy as buying a mars bar, it probably becomes as satisfying as buying a mars bar. I assume.

We've seen what they do with it. Buy power and influence so they can amass more wealth and power, and further their own beliefs and plans.

[dinny_g]

We all want things, but when buying a McLaren is as easy as buying a mars bar, it probably becomes as satisfying as buying a mars bar. I assume.

I read an article by a Golfers wife (Phil Mickelson if you're interested) where she talked about trying to buy him a 40th birthday present I think it was. The guy has all the houses he needs, all the cars, all the watches, all the toys etc so what do you get him ??

A fully formed T-Rex Skull, complete with teeth.

That's the sort of shit I'd buy if I won big on the EuroMillions - after my Ruf...