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I'm rooting for it despite it being silly and not a practical pickup, strictly because every car people are buying looks identical (picture a crossover SUV from
by xp84 3y ago
I'm rooting for it despite it being silly and not a practical pickup, strictly because every car people are buying looks identical (picture a crossover SUV from Toyota, Chevy, BMW etc. Basically shoe-shaped things).
This looks like a concept car that would never come to market. I hope it sells really well and convinces others to bring actually-creative designs to market.
- Solvency 3y agoTesla literally didn't realize the steel comes in coils and it naturally wants to warp back into that state. Massive panel gap problems. As usual. The only thing other car makers are learning is what a joke their design operation is.
- bastian 3y agoSure guy.
- qarl 3y ago"We dug our own grave."
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> Tesla literally didn't realize the steel comes in coils and it naturally wants to warp back into that state Steel comes in many shapes. Are you saying they used hot versus cold-rolled steel?
- convolvatron 3y agostainless has a very strong tendency to want to walk back from forming operations.
- m463 3y agoMaybe they need to machine it from a block of metal, like apple's laptops.
- KaiserPro 3y agoIt also has to be much thicker, or needs to be bonded to a backing frame for rigidity.
- dgrin91 3y agoSpaceX was using stainless steel for Starship since at least 2019, so pretty sure you are demonstrably wrong here. Its fun to say space man bad, but don't equate complex production cycles to teams of competent engineers not knowing basics. Look at the differences between production & preproduction models and you'll see way less issues.
- blackguardx 3y agoI’m sure folks knew it came in rolled form, but aren’t SpaceX and Tesla two separate companies?
- dgrin91 3y agoBoth run by Musk and they have a lot of folks who have swapped between the two. In general they have very close connections.
- blackguardx 3y agoI would be interested to learn how this works in practice. In many companies separate divisions barely collaborate or take learnings from each other. 2 separate companies sharing learnings is unique.
- me_me_me 3y agoI work in one company and the divisions there hardly interact cuz it costs a lot in overhead. I am pretty sure the guy is making shit up.
- mschuster91 3y agoMusk does this routinely, also with the Boring Company or with Twitter - upon his acquisition, he took a lot of Tesla staff with him to Twitter HQ [1] to help out. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/elon-musk-has-pulled-more-than-50-tesla-engineers-into-twitter.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/31/elon-musk-has-pulled-more-th...
- dangus 3y agoSome of the top selling vehicles in America are made by companies with atrocious build quality like Ford, GM, and Chrysler. The Bronco and Wrangler being utter pieces of shit doesn’t make them unpopular.
- ct520 3y agoI appreciate your thinking, unfortunately if it sells well I feel the industry will just do the same thing. Instead of shoe shaped things, we will just have cyber truck knock offs. Which ugh I can’t say I would prefer over what we have now.
- fullshark 3y agoIt will have a cult following at the very least I think, and maybe that will inspire some auto companies.
- ShakataGaNai 3y agoI'd wager you're right, similar to a modern DMC Delorean. After all they already share the stainless-steel body and "reputation for poor build quality and an unsatisfactory driving experience".
- notahacker 3y agoIf it comes with a time machine you'll be able to pop to the future to download its full self driving capabilities...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sushid 3y agoWhile I appreciate the unique design of the Cybertruck, I have a huge concern with its huge size and the potential safety risks for pedestrians. The trend of increasingly larger vehicles, like SUVs and trucks, has already raised issues regarding pedestrian safety. The Cybertruck, being notably larger than most contemporary cars in the same category, could exacerbate this problem, especially if it opens the door to similar designs in new market segments IMO.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoIt should be safer than a normal truck to pedestrians, since it doesn't have a broad front. With a car, the most common scenario is that car hits your legs and then you bounce on the hood. IOW, you don't get the full kinetic energy all at once. With a truck your body takes the full hit and you're more likely to fall under the tires. With a lower, sharper front, the Cybertruck should behave more like a car than a full size truck. But we really don't know yet. It's a real failure of regulators that we it's not a standard part of testing and that their aren't good standards in this area. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-vertical-front-ends-pose-greater-risk-to-pedestrians https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-v...
- mike_d 3y agoIt is the single biggest step backwards in automotive safety in the last ten years. https://www.travelers.com/resources/auto/safe-driving/how-crumple-zones-work https://www.travelers.com/resources/auto/safe-driving/how-cr...
- slowhadoken 3y agoyeah but automotive safety has been great the last twenty years especially for children
- mike_d 3y agoIt really has, cars have gotten progressively safer every year since 1975 for everyone involved. https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/children#trends https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/child...
- quartz 3y agoAgreed-- this is an absolutely ridiculous looking vehicle and I hope they sell millions of them.
- mike_d 3y ago> because every car people are buying looks identical It is almost like all other car makers know something Tesla does not. Maybe that big reflective flat surfaces are not safe for other drivers on sunny days.
- mavhc 3y agoThey're not flat surfaces
- TheOtherHobbes 3y agoNot for long, anyway.
- mavhc 3y agohttps://twitter.com/DavidKasmanArt/status/1729223323010072915 https://twitter.com/DavidKasmanArt/status/172922332301007291...
- alpaca128 3y agoI don't know what you want to tell with this, but in that picture every surface I can see looks almost perfectly flat. For the purposes of aerodynamics a curvature you have to measure with a tool is likely not going to help much. Edit: In case this is a thread you might want to link the exact post/picture we're supposed to see because threads aren't accessible without login.
- KaiserPro 3y agoor that flat surfaces aren't very strong, require more material to be rigid and generally have bad aerodynamics.
- me_me_me 3y agoone very interesting take i hear is those 'armored plates' might become a death trap in a car crash. As hydraulic cutters might not be as effective on them in case firefighters need to cut people out of a vehicle.
- inhumantsar 3y agoI couldn't agree more. Especially [Hyundai's recent sports car concept](https://www.hyundai-n.com/en/models/rolling-lab/n-vision-74.do https://www.hyundai-n.com/en/models/rolling-lab/n-vision-74....)
- ang_cire 3y agoI would buy the crap out of that, but it will never see actual production looking like that. By the time it's done it'll be round just like every other car.
- inhumantsar 3y agoit's never meant to go to production sadly. it's a test bed for their experimental hydrogen powerplant and new cyberpunkish design language in use on vehicles like the Ioniq. i too would buy the crap out of it. it's glorious.
- xp84 3y agoIoniq5 is the other car that genuinely makes me smile to look at. Although seeing how pathetic that company (Hyundai/Kia) handled security with the Kiaboyz incident (which they to this day have never remedied, let alone made anyone whole for) I harbor a lot of scorn for their ethics. They directly enabled a massive wave of car thefts, just to maybe $80 a car on immobilizer chips that literally every other carmaker has had as standard for 2 decades.
- soupfordummies 3y agoHadn’t seen this, that car looks AWESOME
- JohnFen 3y agoI just wish it weren't so hideous-looking. The car industry already went through a "make everything ugly" phase a couple of decades ago. It'd be nice if they didn't repeat that!
- CobrastanJorji 3y agoThat's pretty much how I would feel for this or for the Homer Car. Is either one a good idea? Probably not, no. But it's fun to see different things, and trying new stuff is how we learn and grow, even when we do it because the CEO or his brother is making bad decisions.
- ChrisClark 3y agoThat's why I like that the Nissan Cube is a thing, though I wouldn't buy one, I like that it's not symmetrical and that they tried something different.
- JohnFen 3y agoThe only time I have enjoyed seeing a Cube is when I spotted one with a bumper sticker that read "Fuck aerodynamics".
- rob74 3y agoThe shoe-shaped things are that way because of crumple areas and pedestrian safety requirements (if the car hits a pedestrian, the bonnet is supposed to deform in order to minimize injuries). Contrast that to the Cybertruck, which... > ...has received criticism from automotive safety groups, including the Australasian New Car Assessment Program and the Euro NCAP, for not conforming to standards for pedestrian and cyclist safety. In its December 2019 form, the truck would likely not be street-legal in either Australia or the European Union. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Cybertruck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Cybertruck
- hnburnsy 3y agoAre any mid or large sized American pickups sold new in Europe? All I can find is the Ford Ranger.
- orwin 3y agoWell, it depends, but some US trucks have 'safe' versions they can sell in Europe. But you can still find monstrosities that passed regulation.
- RamblingCTO 3y agoWould you consider a Dodge Ram 3500 large? Then yes. Although not via Dodge but smaller companies importing them. Not sure if that can circumvent the EU laws somehow.
- jessriedel 3y agoThe ever-stricter fuel efficiency requirements also impose strong constraints. If the rules were sensible, we would have a taxes on carbon and dangerous features at amounts that reflected their actual negative impact, and the consumer could choose how much they were willing to pay for style. Instead we have a march toward uniform blandness and 99% of consumers don't know why because they never interact with the regulations.
- brokensegue 3y ago
- thinkingemote 3y agoWe are still in the motor cars looking like horse drawn carriages without the horses phase. Electric cars don't need ICE engine layouts. It will take a few years until the designers realise they can have cars looking much different as they have more flexibility. I also have hope this truck on the roads will get manufacturers doing something different. Concept cars at car shows should be where we should look first.
- constantly 3y agoAny ideas for how to redesign these? The thought is compelling. I’m thinking about it and even with EVs you’d still want four wheels, want to put the battery flat on the bottom for various reasons. So the base seems like it’s four wheels with a flat platform. Building space for 1-6 people on top thought and I seem to arrive at the same designs that already exist. Thoughts?
- me_me_me 3y agothere were plenty of 'crazy idea' cars prototypes. The reality is the current designs (tear shaped, front engine, forward facing seats with belts) are result of slow incremental perfections. Safety, fuel efficiency being two biggest drivers (pun intended!). The biggest external factor being the infrastructure (you might have the greatest idea for next personal transportation vehicle) but if it doesnt use roads its pretty much dead . So people complaining have no idea what they really want. Like Ford said “If I would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”.
- iainmerrick 3y agoNot all ICE cars have the engine in the front, even.
- foooorsyth 3y ago>Any ideas for how to redesign these? The thought is compelling. I recommend anyone interested in the reshaping of EVs for the future take a look at Volvo's "Future of design" video from a couple years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2jLLCwgt_U&t=84s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2jLLCwgt_U&t=84s
- huytersd 3y agoIt would be so easy to make this a practical pickup. I could get past the fact that it looks terrible in person if it had a usable truck bed. But the bed is so small and constrained that is basically useless
- DennisP 3y agoI live in a mixed suburban/rural area in the Southeast and I see very few pickups with full-size beds. I know somebody who was in the market for one and had a hard time finding it. Big cabs and small beds are what's popular, and in a lot of cases the beds look smaller than the Cybertruck's.
- Syonyk 3y ago> ...because every car people are buying looks identical... Why wouldn't you expect this sort of convergence? A bunch of companies trying to solve the same problems with the same constraints are likely to find very similar solutions. We saw it with aviation - over time, jet aircraft look more and more like each other, because certain solutions, once they become available (twinjets demonstrating enough reliability for extended overwater operations) are simply better in about every metric you'd possibly care about.
- gpm 3y agoBecause different people need different things from their vehicles, and as such the optimal shape should be different. Moreover because it's pretty clear from consumer preferences that vehicle-profiles are largely a fashion choice, and there still isn't much variation. A vehicle that I'm much more excited about than cybertruck in terms of shape is aptera [1], with a drag co-efficient of 0.13 (model 3: 0.23, toyota corolla: 0.29). They're giving things up in exchange for this (most notably back seats), but if you don't need the things you're giving up it's a huge win. [1] https://aptera.us/ https://aptera.us/
- kyleee 3y agoI want one. I hope they’re doing well
- chucksmash 3y agoI get your point but there is also a huge amount of aping what is successful. E.g., as gas mileage requirements increase, you'd expect things to become more aerodynamic. Separate from that, the Ford Escape was reworked to look like a knock off Subaru and the Ford Explorer was reworked to look like a knock off Range Rover. If it were just a matter of convergent evolution to fit the constraints of US gas mileage regulations, why did the Ford Explorer also copy the Range Rover's hood lettering?
- argonaut 3y agoCar design is driven more by market analysis / price discrimination than engineering constraints. Engineering constraints explain some aspects of car design but they don't explain the generally conservative designs of a lot of automakers. Take the new Toyota Prius, for example. The updated model almost looks like a concept car but still has a similar shape to other cars. There's no constraint reason Toyota couldn't have styled the car similarly in previous generations. I'm guessing they made the car look like this because Prius sales were falling and they decided they needed to be aggressive with styling for sales. They may have also decided that consumers that want a car with lots of cargo space are going for SUVs and crossovers anyways, so they could make the new Prius sleeker. There are also tons of examples of automakers intentionally reserving nicer looking features as more expensive options or for more expensive luxury models. Fabric is not really cheaper than fake leather (both of these materials are just plastic). But automakers always charge more for fake leather.
- nikau 3y agoYes it's nice to see bucking of the boring trend for efficiency and pedestrian safety
- quickthrowman 3y ago> I'm rooting for it despite it being silly and not a practical pickup, strictly because every car people are buying looks identical (picture a crossover SUV from Toyota, Chevy, BMW etc. Basically shoe-shaped things). It’s almost like the entire automotive industry converged on that shape for specific reasons… aerodynamics and crash resistance.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y agoIt looks like a 1980s CGI low-poly render of a random asset from a forgotten video game. It's "cyber" in a purely backward-looking nostalgic way. You can do some astounding things with laser cutting (etc) now. This is some steel panels bolted together to make a child's drawing with wheels.
- iancmceachern 3y agoTotally, like something from Mechwarrior 2
- slicktux 3y agoI resonate with your statement! I can’t wait to see one driving on the streets!!! Welcome to the FUTURE!
- randomcarbloke 3y agoform over function in a vehicle designed for utility.
- roflyear 3y agoCars look the same in part because of safety regulations make those designs more attractive to manufacturers.
- TheAceOfHearts 3y agoJapan has a various alternative pickup designs that are difficult to import into the US. They're a lot smaller and lighter than traditional pickups but usually have the same standard bed size.
- btreecat 3y agoCars should look the same, in fact id be ok if there were only a handful to choose from, like a small passenger car, a larger van, and then a truck and that's it.
- spicyusername 3y agoWhat a boring world to live in, though, if every product or idea had to conform to some technocratic "ideal".
- btreecat 3y agoDo you pick your hammer and wrench based off what color it is or how well it performs for the cost? When things become price optimized, there really is little left to differ on because of the physics of cars, much like the physics of hammers and wrenches.