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Hanging out in a Tesla online community, I've noticed there are two types of Tesla fans (and investors even). The first are those that believe that EVs are the

Hanging out in a Tesla online community, I've noticed there are two types of Tesla fans (and investors even). The first are those that believe that EVs are the future and love the cars Tesla is producing. The other are robotaxi/FSD evangelists and believe Tesla will usher in the age of autonomous cars sooner rather than later. These people genuinely believe we'll have fully road legal autonomous cars (as in, requiring zero human input) by 2025 and that human driven cars will be outright banned in many developed countries by 2035 or even 2030. Some of them actually want Tesla to stop selling cars to the public in favor of stocking them for the robotaxi fleet which they are absolutely sure will be widely deployed in a matter of a few years.

jacquesm 6y ago
There are two types of people: those who divide people into groups and those that don't. Seriously though: there are many more Tesla fans, there are also those that hope the company succeeds but that wished that that self driving feature had been postponed until it actually worked because in the longer term this is bad for the brand and bad for electrics as a whole.
- decafninja 6y ago
  Don't get me wrong - I too am a Tesla fan, and my next car will most likely be one too. And disclaimer: I also own stock. But yeah, I wish both Elon and the rabid FSD evangelists would quiet down and stop hyping FSD and robotaxi. I agree that hyping it right here and now today is going to hurt the brand more than help. The bad attention is already happening. You hear about any other company making incremental advances in autonomous vehicle tech, and it's generally met positively. News about greater, more significant, advances from Tesla, are met with second guessing, doubts, and worries about how many people will get hurt.
heavyset_go 6y ago
Regarding the latter group, this video[1] that was archived by an HN user[2] is pretty telling. [1] https://troll.tv/videos/watch/54bc7bd0-8691-4359-aa7d-dc5148350ff3 https://troll.tv/videos/watch/54bc7bd0-8691-4359-aa7d-dc5148... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26810351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26810351
- fastball 6y ago
  It's really not that telling. Tesla short-sellers really will stop at nothing to try to recoup their bet.
pier25 6y ago
> These people genuinely believe we'll have fully road legal autonomous cars (as in, requiring zero human input) by 2025 and that human driven cars will be outright banned by 2035 or even 2030. I'm not a Tesla fan, but I think that's going to happen eventually. Probably much closer to 2100 though.
- o_p 6y ago
  By 2100 people will realize how dumb people in the 2020 were and have efficient public transportation for that "autonomous" travelling.
  - throwawayboise 6y ago
    Unless we've discovered how to teleport from place to place, I think people in 2100 will prefer private cars to public transport, as they have done ever since the car was invented.
    - lxgr 6y ago
      Do they, for all types of trips? Personally, I much prefer trains for every trip over two hours. Being able to stretch my legs, get coffee and food, and comfortably work are worth it. Cars are very nice for when there is no (direct) train connection available to where I want to go, as well as for shorter trips, but they don‘t scale well at all in terms of density of traffic as well as efficiency.
      - decafninja 6y ago
        Distance is definitely a factor, as is frequency. I'd prefer public transportation systems (trains, buses, planes, etc.) if it's a longer and occasional trip. For short, regular, frequent travel, i.e. a commute? Give me a personal car anyday. But my opinion is jaded from the awful urban public transportation systems we have in the US. Give me something like what Tokyo, Seoul, etc. have, and I might prefer public transit for commuting too.
PhantomGremlin 6y ago
Someone on HN has put together a fairly detailed timeline of Elon's comments on FSD: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26519357 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26519357

jacquesm 6y ago

There are two types of people: those who divide people into groups and those that don't. Seriously though: there are many more Tesla fans, there are also those that hope the company succeeds but that wished that that self driving feature had been postponed until it actually worked because in the longer term this is bad for the brand and bad for electrics as a whole.

decafninja 6y ago
Don't get me wrong - I too am a Tesla fan, and my next car will most likely be one too. And disclaimer: I also own stock. But yeah, I wish both Elon and the rabid FSD evangelists would quiet down and stop hyping FSD and robotaxi. I agree that hyping it right here and now today is going to hurt the brand more than help. The bad attention is already happening. You hear about any other company making incremental advances in autonomous vehicle tech, and it's generally met positively. News about greater, more significant, advances from Tesla, are met with second guessing, doubts, and worries about how many people will get hurt.

heavyset_go 6y ago

Regarding the latter group, this video[1] that was archived by an HN user[2] is pretty telling. [1] https://troll.tv/videos/watch/54bc7bd0-8691-4359-aa7d-dc5148350ff3 https://troll.tv/videos/watch/54bc7bd0-8691-4359-aa7d-dc5148... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26810351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26810351

fastball 6y ago
It's really not that telling. Tesla short-sellers really will stop at nothing to try to recoup their bet.

pier25 6y ago

> These people genuinely believe we'll have fully road legal autonomous cars (as in, requiring zero human input) by 2025 and that human driven cars will be outright banned by 2035 or even 2030. I'm not a Tesla fan, but I think that's going to happen eventually. Probably much closer to 2100 though.

o_p 6y ago
By 2100 people will realize how dumb people in the 2020 were and have efficient public transportation for that "autonomous" travelling.
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  Unless we've discovered how to teleport from place to place, I think people in 2100 will prefer private cars to public transport, as they have done ever since the car was invented.
  - lxgr 6y ago
    Do they, for all types of trips? Personally, I much prefer trains for every trip over two hours. Being able to stretch my legs, get coffee and food, and comfortably work are worth it. Cars are very nice for when there is no (direct) train connection available to where I want to go, as well as for shorter trips, but they don‘t scale well at all in terms of density of traffic as well as efficiency.
    - decafninja 6y ago
      Distance is definitely a factor, as is frequency. I'd prefer public transportation systems (trains, buses, planes, etc.) if it's a longer and occasional trip. For short, regular, frequent travel, i.e. a commute? Give me a personal car anyday. But my opinion is jaded from the awful urban public transportation systems we have in the US. Give me something like what Tokyo, Seoul, etc. have, and I might prefer public transit for commuting too.

PhantomGremlin 6y ago

Someone on HN has put together a fairly detailed timeline of Elon's comments on FSD: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26519357 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26519357