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One of our excellent commenters posted an intriguing comment this morning under an article about how robotaxi app usage is split across the US market. I’ve been following and engaged in this debate for more than a decade, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comment quite like this. It’s really an eyebrow raiser and gets you thinking. Read the comment below, and feel free to send in your own full article reaction if you have one — pro or con. I have a feeling this intriguing piece from “Matthew2312” will inspire more long takes on where things are headed in this market. —ZS
Let me offer an observation: If Tesla is right about autonomy, Tesla loses. If Tesla is wrong about autonomy, Tesla loses more. Here is the very truncated reason why:
If Tesla is right about autonomy…
Tesla is arguing that all autonomy requires is a middling computational stack like HW4 plus a handful of middling resolution cameras, and good software. If it is right, there are already millions of vehicles on the road with significantly more capable hardware than what Tesla has fielded. (My gen 2 R1S with 11 mp cameras and dual Orin processors plus 360 radar is a fine and not particularly special example.) Once Tesla proves it can be done, the race will be on to replicate the Tesla software on existing hardware. It is like the Wright Brothers, Kitty Hawk did not build a “moat,” it opened the competitive floodgates.
