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Things are undoubtedly bad at Tesla. Its sales are dwindling. Its profits are plunging, as is its share price. There are regular protests outside its showrooms. The Cybertruck is a flop. And somehow, it’s actually a lot worse than that.

The 71% drop in net income it just reported may have been overshadowed by CEO Elon Musk’s announcement that he would be stepping back from his controversial duties at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But that drop is just one indication of serious financial sickness at the EV maker, problems brought on by falling sales for the first time in its history and falling prices for electric vehicles.

The bottom line problem at Tesla is its vanishing bottom line. A deeper look at its first quarter report shows it’s now losing money on what should be its ostensible reason for existence – selling cars.

It was only able to post a $409 million profit in the quarter thanks to the sale of $595 million worth of regulatory credits to other automakers.

But if the Trump administration gets its way, the company can kiss those regulatory credits keeping it in the black goodbye, too.

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[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

Cameras alone are not sufficient enough for autonomous driving.

I disagree with this assertion, because they’re correct that the only being that can currently drive is relying on vision. Vision alone is sufficient for driving.

But autonomous driving really hasn’t succeeded yet. We still have no idea what is required for autonomous driving or whether we can do it at all, regardless of sensors.

So you’re implying that we can definitely do autonomous driving but can’t do it the way humans do, whereas I say we won’t know the requirements until we find some that succeed, and we may never

[-] tfm@europe.pub 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah sure. If you want the same bad results as humans deliver, in terms of crash rates, than it's possible. I wouldn't trust it. Also human vision and processing is completely different from computer vision and processing.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Presumably we have the intelligence to set requirements before something can be called self-driving - that’s usually what the fuss is about, whether the marketing is claiming it’s something it’s not.

If they fail with their approach, I’m fine with that, just like I’m fine if Waymo fails with their approach. Of either succeeds, why should I care how? Obviously there’s a problem if it runs over some old lady at a stop sign and drags them down the street but that’s clearly a failure for them

[-] tfm@europe.pub 0 points 1 month ago

Presumably we have the intelligence to set requirements before something can be called self-driving

We already have that https://www.sae.org/blog/sae-j3016-update

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The thing is humans are horrible drivers, costing a huge toll in lives and property every year.

We may already be at the point where we need to deal with the ethics of inadequate self-driving causing too many accidents vs human causing more. We can clearly see the shortcomings of all self driving technology so far, but is it ethical to block Immature technology if it does overall save lives?

Maybe it’s the trolley problem. Should we take the branch that leads to deaths or the branch that leads to more deaths

[-] tfm@europe.pub 0 points 1 month ago

The thing is humans are horrible drivers, costing a huge toll in lives and property every year.

True

We may already be at the point where we need to deal with the ethics of inadequate self-driving causing too many accidents vs human causing more.

Are you talking about waymo vs human driver? It's currently (and maybe never) economical to roll that out globally. That would cost trillions and probably wouldn't even be feasible everywhere.

Teslas aren't autonomous but just mere driving assistants so you can't compare them. Otherwise you'd also have to include the Mercedeses (which btw have the first commercial Level 3 car), BMWs, BYDs, ...

but is it ethical to block Immature technology if it does overall save lives?

It would be very unethical to allow companies to profit from dangerous and unsafe technology that kills people.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

No manufacturer does good self-driving yet.

Several manufacturers including Tesla make driver assistants more reliable than humans in at least some cases, possibly most of the time.

It’s easy to say you don’t want to allow companies to profit from unsafe technology that kills people but what is the other choice? If you send the trolley down the other track, you’re choosing different deaths at the hands of unsafe humans. We will soon be at the point, or already are, that your choice kills more people. Is that really such an easy choice?

[-] tfm@europe.pub 2 points 1 month ago

We will soon be at the point, or already are, that your choice kills more people.

Where do you get that? From Elon?

Yes safety features and driving assistants make driving safer. Letting the car drive by itself not (especially with Teslas).

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Elon claims Tesla is already past that point. I’ll accept a much larger approximation that several manufacturers are past or near that point. Even if you’re skeptical of the claim, it’s clearly close enough to be concerned about.

[-] tfm@europe.pub 1 points 1 month ago

Elon claims Tesla is already past that point.

Elon claims a lot of shit. Most of them are lies. He cannot prove with real data that "FSD" really crashes less.

Even if you’re skeptical of the claim, it’s clearly close enough to be concerned about.

Again, Teslas aren't even considered autonomous cars.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be optimistic. But currently it looks like this will take much longer to succeed than Elon and other hype men claimed.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

You’re being too pedantic. We clearly have cars that do a lot of their own driving, we clearly have people (multiple) making claims, and we clearly have at least one company piloting self-driving taxis. Let’s consider our ethics before it’s too late

this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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