
Elon Musk’s sleight of hand - deegles
https://medium.com/@gavinsblog/elon-musk-s-sleight-of-hand-ea2b078ed8e6
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runamok
Am I the only one that thinks a self driving car needs far more than a
'software update'? I would imagine it would need multiple redundant 360 degree
sensor packages.

Supposedly the Google self driving cars analyze a gig of data per second so
more processing power would likely be needed too. That is not to say the
platform may not be a self driving car at some future date... Also one good
software bug that loses lives might be enough to destroy Tesla financially as
well as their reputation at this stage.

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greglindahl
... Tesla added a big sensor package to Model S over a year ago. It doesn't
have LIDAR like Google's cars, but it is similar to sensor packages from other
car companies that do lane-following and adaptive cruise control.

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lern_too_spel
He completely misread these features. Most self-driving taxis will be very
small because most trips have few passengers. In a vehicle that will see as
much use as a self-driving taxi, the fewer moving parts there are, the better
-- you would rather have an extra door to get to the rear seats than seats
moved by motors.

These are all natural evolutions of luxury car features.

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jahnu
Right. And if you want to see into the future of any 'luxury' that becomes
available to the well off middle classes look to what the really rich are
doing now. They are driving cars that are too big for every day needs. They
have people who open the doors for them. They have people who make sure there
will be enough room to get in. And so on.

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WWKong
I like the creative thinking in the post. However what we see at play here is
confirmation bias. Once the author has convinced himself that Model X is a
step towards self-driving future, everything demoed is viewed with that lense.
This happens completely unintentionally.

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prawn
What makes the author wrong? It all sounds very likely to me.

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WWKong
It does not make the author wrong at all. Just that as humans we tend to
rationalize things, often by reading between the lines.

