Here is video of a Tesla Robotaxi driving at twice the speed limit down Austin streets and over speed bumps. Oh, and it sees a deer!
This drive is a good illustration of Tesla’s FSD suite being almost ready for use on public roads. Unfortunately, “almost” is good enough for horseshoes and hand grenades, but not autonomous taxis. Take a look:
Here’s the Highlights
In this 19 minute drive, I saw:
- 14:42: Speeding when they see a deer. 30MPH in a 15MPH zone. At least they slowed down once the wildlife was detected?
- 14:29: Hearing the influencers talk about the Robotaxi handling speed bumps is pretty funny. They are visibly jostled, and they talk about how “nice” it feels, LOL.
- 4:56: Comes to a dead stop on a 25MPH street to deal with an obstruction… there is a plastic bag in the road. Eventually, the Robotaxi decides to continue, running over the bag, but sort of funny to see that experience described as “fantastic” by the Tesla influencers.
So, yeah, not great. Any obstruction in the road fools the optical cameras, even common obstructions like trash bags. The mapping of speed limits is either inaccurate, or the system is programmed to disregard the law. Neither is great.
Speed Bumps are a Good Example of Local Traffic Variations
Speed bumps are one of those local traffic variations that are hard to solve for, weirdly. Not all towns have them. Hard to detect visually, and not always well marked.
Tesla has likely pre-mapped where the speed bumps are located. The mapping subcontractors evidently did a shit job, because this Robotaxi hits one hard enough for the passengers to be visibly jostled. That will only get worse, as speed bump locations change over time and the maps become outdated.
While fantasists talk about quickly rolling out millions of Robotaxis (including privately owned Model Ys moonlighting as cabs while you sleep), every town has this sort of local traffic variation. You’ve got to solve for them all locally, it doesn’t scale easily in the way that Silicon Valley likes.
The Robotaxi Rollout: Disinformative by Design
I’m struck by the fact that all these Tesla influencers are the only early riders. It’s just awkward and weird. The early videos are practically all narrated by folks of the same “type.”
No, Seriously: If I Had to Suffer Through Twitter, So Do You
Seriously, read these posts from various Tesla influencers. Notice the common thread of just… really hating the news? Isn’t that strange?
Follow the Leader (No, Seriously, the Algorithm Insists)
Of course, none of this is out of left field… if you’re on Twitter. Because if you’re on Twitter, you are force-fed Elon Musk’s stream-of-consciousness Tweets that sort of prepare you for it.
Those will include repeated messages like this one:
All This Twitter Stuff Feels Inorganic Because It IS Inorganic.
The influencers are proudly denouncing news outlets, refusing to do interviews. They prefer (like Elon encourages) that people get their news directly from Twitter. That also gets the influencers paid for engagement and whatever affiliate products they are shilling for, but they don’t mention that part.
This is a troubling look into the future. The most innovative aspect of the Tesla Robotaxi is the media control around it. Elon has a purpose-built disinformation chamber that seems ready-made to promote a product like this.
The product is the $TSLA stock price, in case that wasn’t obvious.
More News to Come
While I hate going on Twitter and feel icky when I have to (let me wash my hands right quick), I feel like there is (unfortunately) some important technology news lurking between these disparate data points.
More on that in a later article on disinformation in our post-truth future.
Until then, stay tuned for more Robotaxi-watching and assorted automotive navel-gazing!
