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I just ordered a 37,000AUD BYD, the "$25k (USD) car" that Elon used to promise was coming. Seems like I'm not the only one with 2779 BYD EVs sold in the countr

• Betelbuddy 8mo ago
  This is a quote from Tesla latest earnings call, at 04 min.. "Because we're really moving into a future that is based on autonomy and so if you're interested in buying a Model S and X, now would be the time to order it, because we expect to wind down S and X production in next quarter and basically stop production of Model S and X next quarter. We'll obviously continue to support the Model S and X programs for as long as people have the vehicles, but we're gonna take the Model S and X production space in our Fremont factory and convert that into an Optimus factory, which will... with the long-term goal of having 1 million units a year of Optimus robots in the current S/X space in Fremont."
  • kelipso 8mo ago
    Wonder what the maintenance picture for Tesla will be like from now on. Crazy expensive parts at the very least I would imagine.
    • hirako2000 8mo ago
      Can be turned into value, owning a Tesla is a symbol of status.
      • JasonADrury 8mo ago
        A symbol of being aggressively middle class?
      • ndsipa_pomu 8mo ago
        A symbol of being a white nationalist racist?
        • hirako2000 8mo ago
          That escalated quickly. No I meant that owning a Tesla, like Apple or Prada is a status symbol. Income status. So if maintainance costs a lot it will reinforce that. by no mean calling this out is advocating for status signaling , I myself would never buy a Tesla for this very reason.
      • myvoiceismypass 8mo ago
        About half the ubers I take are Teslas. So, for me it largely signals "ride share" these days.
    • chihuahua 8mo ago
      If you go into a dealership to have your Tesla repaired, they give you a 3D-printed poop emoji to inform you that the parts are not available.
  • jackvalentine 8mo ago
    I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me.
  • bhouston 8mo ago
    This reads to me like someone saying “you can’t dump me, because I am preemptively dumping you.” It is a forced pivot to avoid having to admit failure.
    • georgemcbay 8mo ago
      > It is a forced pivot to avoid having to admit failure. It is also a neat way to reset Elon's Very Reliable Prediction Clock. I look forward to hearing about how fully functional Optimus robots will be ready to ship "later this year" for the next 10 years.
      • CursedSilicon 8mo ago
        I wonder if they'll be similarly "self-driving" https://old.reddit.com/r/robotics/comments/1ph3scw/tesla_optimus_faints_when_operator_takes_off_vr/ https://old.reddit.com/r/robotics/comments/1ph3scw/tesla_opt...
      • 6510 8mo ago
        I thought this was the greatest product demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R40IDdAkRZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R40IDdAkRZM I struggle to imagine what the US version of this intimidating propaganda movie would look like. My mind renders only pictures of square dancing.
        • Incipient 8mo ago
          China is absolutely crushing everyone mostly across the board in technology these days. It's comical today, but will just be embarrassing soon. The only bit visually we see China a little behind is AI but I suspect they have much better closed/unreleased models, and the fab/chip space, but they'll close that gap in a short few years I'd expect.
          • deleted 8mo ago
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  • PearlRiver 8mo ago
    I bet Chinese robots will be cheaper lol.
  • KennyBlanken 8mo ago
    > 1 million Optimus robots Are there that many unemployed actors available?
    • mattmaroon 8mo ago
      No but thanks to Elon there are a million unemployed federal government workers.
      • aj_icracked 8mo ago
        [flagged]
      • andsoitis 8mo ago
        > there are a million unemployed federal government workers Wikipedia notes about 300,000 people were laid off. Not a million. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_mass_layoffs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_federal_mas...
        • mattmaroon 8mo ago
          Thanks joke police!
    • tjpnz 8mo ago
      Plenty of Mocap actors.
  • prawn 8mo ago
    I think those are just two of the models that aren't pushed particularly hard. As I understand it, Model 3 and Model Y are the major models in recent time? I think S, X and Cybertruck are just 3% of 2025 deliveries?
    • adgjlsfhk1 8mo ago
      the fact that Tesla's newest model sold pitifully isn't exactly a mitigating factor.
  • palmotea 8mo ago
    > but we're gonna take the Model S and X production space in our Fremont factory and convert that into an Optimus factory, which will... with the long-term goal of having 1 million units a year of Optimus robots in the current S/X space in Fremont." I don't know how well that's going to work out for them. I saw these robots (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVX6vq0RSnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVX6vq0RSnY) on the Chinese New Year Gala, and they look way more dexterous than any Optimus video I've ever seen.
    • SloppyDrive 8mo ago
      Optimus is not a leader in humanoids; but that china demo is not really all that impressive; They are lightweight, reduced scale, and not all that dynamic... No idea how adaptable the control would be either. See how poorly the sword one moves compared to the others. Optimus hand dexterity is interesting; and the handling capacity is targeting useful weights (10s of kilos). Boston dynamics is the most interesting; targeting "fit human" manipulation, 50kg. Their adaptable movement and walking are the best ive seen demoed as well.
    • seemaze 8mo ago
      Great. First ram goes through the roof, and now china has kung-fu robots. 2026 is going great.
      • esafak 8mo ago
        At least start with folding the laundry and helping the infirm. They went straight to martial arts.
      • kuerbel 8mo ago
        They could add EATR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energetically_Autonomous_Tactical_Robot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energetically_Autonomous_Tacti... ) technology to run it and then we have gone almost full horizon zero dawn.
        • danaris 8mo ago
  • gradus_ad 8mo ago
    The whole pivot to Optimus is insane. I can understand the market following Elon down all the other paths he randomly skips down but Optimus... Really?? The only way to explain it is it's not being taken seriously but Elon seems to be taking it very seriously...
    • linkjuice4all 8mo ago
      It's especially strange considering the amount of work that Tesla (the company) put into becoming a car manufacturer which is certainly no easy feat. I'm sure some of the know-how, process, and tooling/supply lines could be transitioned to general purpose robot manufacturing - but why would you build these supply lines and factories just to screw it all up like this?
      • CTDOCodebases 8mo ago
        Judging by the news isn’t the pivot to creating autonomous driving systems for other manufacturers cars? If I’m understanding correctly the pivot is to sell just the autonomous driving systems. This way it can be trained on more data. It’s a hard sell to do this while competing against the car makers whose business they are trying to court. Selling actual cars was like Uber when they started with a black car service. Get into the luxury market then leverage that so get into the mass market. Perhaps this is why Elon has been so adamant about not using LiDAR
        • amluto 8mo ago
          What does any of this have to do with Optimus? Driving a car by sticking a humanoid robot in the driver seat would be amusing but is a terrible idea.
          • CTDOCodebases 8mo ago
            I got confused between Optimus and Dojo and assumed that Tesla had a seperate internal AI division called Optimus. In light of this I think it makes sense though. Tesla lost the government subsidies so it can't compete. Possibly the only way it can would be to have an autonomous workforce then to leverage that into selling picks and shovels (Optimus humanoid robots) to other automotive manufacturers.
  • NalNezumi 8mo ago
    Can someone enlighten me WHO the customer to those million Optimus robots are? I've been working in robotics for years now, I've talked with ex Optimus developers, FigureAI devs, some Japanese humanoid devs, researchers, talked to people in conferences and no one. Absolutely no one I've met take Optimus seriously. If a lab is considering buying a humanoid they'll go to China. Hell, even MIT professors that have been crucial to the development (Boston dynamics etc) seems to not put too much emphasis on Tesla. But I've also been to industrial robotics conferences, mostly for customers and user focus and not developers and usually the perception is different in those circles. So who are the optimistic customers for Optimus?
    • raisedbyninjas 8mo ago
      The same customers as grok. In the future where humanoid robots see some level deployment, there might be some people that need their robot to make CSAM and say the n-word.
    • trashface 8mo ago
      Federal US government & to some extent local law enforcement. They most likely won't be able to use them, but they will buy them and put them in a warehouse. Long tradition of US government doing this with tech, going back to SGI workstations in the 90s if not earlier.
• dboreham 8mo ago
  Saw lots of BYD in New Zealand recently. Probably more than I saw in Hong Kong.
• vardump 8mo ago
  Did Musk actually ever promise a $25k car?
  • mburns 8mo ago
    Repeatedly since at least 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/tesla-said-it-would-start-making-its-cheaper-ev-by-june-its-keeping-quiet-about-the-mysterious-project-heres-what-we-know/ar-AA1HTBj3 https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/tesla-said-it-would-sta...
  • TOMDM 8mo ago
    https://cleantechnica.com/2024/01/25/25000-tesla-in-the-works-for-2025-sources-say/ https://cleantechnica.com/2024/01/25/25000-tesla-in-the-work...
• plugger 8mo ago
  You're definitely not alone! I just took delivery of a new BYD Shark 6 on Monday. It's amazing and I paid $41k USD ($57,900 AUD) for it. Before that was available I was planning on punting on a used Hilux. I'm charging my Shark right now and I couldn't be happier. I expect my fuel bill (it's a PHEV) to drop by 70-80% when compared to the 2010 Commodore wagon I was driving last week.
  • Rodeoclash 8mo ago
    Congrats on your upgrade from bogan to neuvo-bogan ;) (I kid, I also drive a byd, ATTO though rather than shark)
    • plugger 8mo ago
      Thank you! I'm in WA, so in some respects if I'm not driving a landie or hilux my bogan creds are still somewhat lacking, but at least I'm looking down on Ranger drivers now lol.
• blub 8mo ago
  The apparently widespread enthusiasm for spyware on wheels (a category in which Tesla also competes) is sobering. Many customers really only care about price and that it generally works and looks fine and have zero idea about the hidden costs.
• panick21_ 8mo ago
  When Tesla dropped the 'Model 2' car because 'the future would be all robo taxi' I dropped my remaining position in the stock. The idea that car sales would collapse by 50% because robo-taxi would happen just around the corner was crazy.
• dkobia 8mo ago
  The average price of a new car in the US is now ~$50,000 and the average monthly payment is almost $800. All people want is an affordable car and it is clear that won’t happen any time soon. It isn’t strange at all that prisoners to this system are cheering on the Chinese disruption.
• Rover222 8mo ago
  The current model 3 is about $29k with inflation from 2017. They didn't quite hit the mark, but it's not like they're wildly off.