Musk endeavours

[BobbyD]

Elon Musk admits self-driving is harder than he thought as Tesla owners troll him over missed deadlines

...Musk responded to the tweet by swearing that FSD v9 Beta is coming soon and admitted that self-driving is a harder problem than he thought:

“Haha, FSD 9 beta is shipping soon, I swear! Generalized self-driving is a hard problem, as it requires solving a large part of real-world AI. I didn’t expect it to be so hard, but the difficulty is obvious in retrospect. Nothing has more degrees of freedom than reality.”

- https://electrek.co/2021/07/05/elon-mus ... deadlines/

I recall making the same point here some years ago...

[BobbyD]

VW retain majority equity stake in Bugatti (58.2%), take majority equity stake in Rimac cars(58.2%), maintain 24% interest in Rimac's business with other manufacturers. Mate Rimac to run the whole shebang. No cash changes hands.

- https://www.ft.com/content/56be5f08-fe6 ... ef49d2cfc4

[odysseus2000]

Munro tear down of Mach E battery assembly, but not down to cell level, with a super interesting comparison table around 14 min 26 comparing about 6 manufacturers:

https://youtu.be/6pW4eZxWPCg

Regards,

[BobbyD]

VW struggles on toward inevitable decline as H1 preliminaries top pre-pandemic achievements:

The deliveries to customers of the Volkswagen Group continued to recover strongly in the first half of the current year, leading to a very strong Group turnover as well as a very high operating profit. Also the reported Automotive net cash position showed a very positive development. The bottleneck in semiconductors has shifted and will rather impact us in H2.

Based on preliminary figures, the Volkswagen Group expects the following for the first half 2021:

Operating profit of around 11 billion Euros
Reported Automotive net cash flow of around 10 billion Euros

https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/ ... -2021-7309

[Howard]

Tesla's German plant was scheduled to start production this month.

Reuters and other news agencies are reporting that illegal chemical tanks have been constructed on the site and this has prompted some further investigations by the authorities today.

Will the site be producing cars this year? There still seems a lot to be done to get completion and sign-off by the authorities.

"German region to fine Tesla for illegal construction" Reuters report.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 021-07-08/

regards

Howard

[BobbyD]

Tesla's German plant was scheduled to start production this month.

Reuters and other news agencies are reporting that illegal chemical tanks have been constructed on the site and this has prompted some further investigations by the authorities today.

Will the site be producing cars this year? There still seems a lot to be done to get completion and sign-off by the authorities.

"German region to fine Tesla for illegal construction" Reuters report.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 021-07-08/

regards

Howard

Do you ever get the feeling they want to be stopped,

Bashing piles through the water table, illegally building chemical tanks. Its like a cry for help....

[odysseus2000]

BobbyD
Do you ever get the feeling they want to be stopped,

Bashing piles through the water table, illegally building chemical tanks. Its like a cry for help....

Do you ever get the feeling that German legacy auto is pulling all the strings to shut down a competitor and at the same time making Germany look like a market of vested interests that repels competition?

Regards,

[dealtn]

BobbyD
Do you ever get the feeling they want to be stopped,

Bashing piles through the water table, illegally building chemical tanks. Its like a cry for help....

Do you ever get the feeling that German legacy auto is pulling all the strings to shut down a competitor and at the same time making Germany look like a market of vested interests that repels competition?

Regards,

No.

[odysseus2000]

FSD beta 9, one of the first tester reports (4mins 19seconds):

https://youtu.be/TD8pgZRPOyY

This looks impressive!

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

FSD 9, roundabout challenge(10mins 34):

https://youtu.be/KeMM1oyboMc

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

24 mins of FSD V 9:

https://youtu.be/nMOJ5gVvttY

This looks much smoother and more accurate than anything before.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

FSD version 9, unprotected left turns, still some room for improvement, but interesting to view (4 mins 30 seconds):

https://youtu.be/OrHCz4wnW8g

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Success of Branson's Virgin Galactic:

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/14142 ... 45704?s=20

Musk met with Branson before the flight:

https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/elon-m ... 51293.html

Musk has bought a ticket (put down deposit, $7k but with no fixed date) to fly on Virgin Galactic:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/rich ... 45176.html

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Many have argued that FSD 9 can only work on roads that have very good edge markings. This suggests otherwise:

https://youtu.be/DWaL3Orp-Kw

I am warming to this new release. It seems by far the best FSD by a huge margin, suggesting that radar has been a major negative for the earlier versions.

If the initial video are supported over time then it seems to me that Tesla equity is currently very inexpensive. The margins on robo-taxi will be enormous.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Musk to testify over Tesla’s $2.6bn acquisition of SolarCity

Lawsuit hinges on whether billionaire is in control of the electric vehicle company he personifies

Elon Musk has embodied Tesla for more than a decade, making himself the company’s flamboyant ambassador for the electric car revolution. On Monday, the showman chief executive will try to demonstrate to a Delaware judge that, whatever his prominence, he does not control the company.

Musk is the first and most anticipated witness in a trial over Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, his once high-flying solar energy start-up that was teetering just before Tesla swooped in to buy it in 2016 for $2.6bn in Tesla shares.

Dissident Tesla shareholders have alleged that Musk engineered the buyout not to create an integrated clean energy powerhouse as he claimed, but to use the carmaker’s balance sheet to bail out one of his grandiose projects.

...The suing Tesla shareholders have also made allegations besides the controller argument that could force a higher legal standard on Musk. They have claimed Tesla directors — many who had ties to Musk through SolarCity or his SpaceX business — were conflicted. They also allege that the dire condition of SolarCity had not been properly disclosed in SEC filings.

...Musk repeatedly lashed out at the shareholder attorney Randall Baron who was questioning him, calling him a “shameful person” who “had no conscience”, and a “blight on the economy” who made Musk “sad about the future”.

- https://www.ft.com/content/cacbb0b3-9e0 ... acfd3e1521

[odysseus2000]

Musk to testify over Tesla’s $2.6bn acquisition of SolarCity

Lawsuit hinges on whether billionaire is in control of the electric vehicle company he personifies

Elon Musk has embodied Tesla for more than a decade, making himself the company’s flamboyant ambassador for the electric car revolution. On Monday, the showman chief executive will try to demonstrate to a Delaware judge that, whatever his prominence, he does not control the company.

Musk is the first and most anticipated witness in a trial over Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, his once high-flying solar energy start-up that was teetering just before Tesla swooped in to buy it in 2016 for $2.6bn in Tesla shares.

Dissident Tesla shareholders have alleged that Musk engineered the buyout not to create an integrated clean energy powerhouse as he claimed, but to use the carmaker’s balance sheet to bail out one of his grandiose projects.

...The suing Tesla shareholders have also made allegations besides the controller argument that could force a higher legal standard on Musk. They have claimed Tesla directors — many who had ties to Musk through SolarCity or his SpaceX business — were conflicted. They also allege that the dire condition of SolarCity had not been properly disclosed in SEC filings.

...Musk repeatedly lashed out at the shareholder attorney Randall Baron who was questioning him, calling him a “shameful person” who “had no conscience”, and a “blight on the economy” who made Musk “sad about the future”.

- https://www.ft.com/content/cacbb0b3-9e0 ... acfd3e1521

I don't think this law suit has a chance. Musk is not the board and he does not own a controlling interest and hence to go ahead with the solar city acquisition must have required board approval.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Musk to testify over Tesla’s $2.6bn acquisition of SolarCity

Lawsuit hinges on whether billionaire is in control of the electric vehicle company he personifies

Elon Musk has embodied Tesla for more than a decade, making himself the company’s flamboyant ambassador for the electric car revolution. On Monday, the showman chief executive will try to demonstrate to a Delaware judge that, whatever his prominence, he does not control the company.

Musk is the first and most anticipated witness in a trial over Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity, his once high-flying solar energy start-up that was teetering just before Tesla swooped in to buy it in 2016 for $2.6bn in Tesla shares.

Dissident Tesla shareholders have alleged that Musk engineered the buyout not to create an integrated clean energy powerhouse as he claimed, but to use the carmaker’s balance sheet to bail out one of his grandiose projects.

...The suing Tesla shareholders have also made allegations besides the controller argument that could force a higher legal standard on Musk. They have claimed Tesla directors — many who had ties to Musk through SolarCity or his SpaceX business — were conflicted. They also allege that the dire condition of SolarCity had not been properly disclosed in SEC filings.

...Musk repeatedly lashed out at the shareholder attorney Randall Baron who was questioning him, calling him a “shameful person” who “had no conscience”, and a “blight on the economy” who made Musk “sad about the future”.

- https://www.ft.com/content/cacbb0b3-9e0 ... acfd3e1521

I don't think this law suit has a chance. Musk is not the board and he does not own a controlling interest and hence to go ahead with the solar city acquisition must have required board approval.

Regards,

Hence the argument that the board was 'conflicted'. Worth noting other directors have already settled with Tesla's corporate insurer picking up the tab.

[odysseus2000]

BobbyD

Hence the argument that the board was 'conflicted'. Worth noting other directors have already settled with Tesla's corporate insurer picking up the tab.

Every court case Musk has faced, you have argued he was doomed and yet he has always been acquitted. You may be right this time, but for the prosecution to wn they have to prove that the rest of the boards free will was conflicted, in essence that the board members could not think for themselves. This is not an easy ask for any barrister to prove.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Every court case Musk has faced, you have argued he was doomed...

I haven't even argued that he is doomed in this court case....

[odysseus2000]

This is the Guardian take on the Musk/(solar city) case:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... er-lawsuit

imho the writer of this article is clueless about how the US justice and corporate systems work.

The settlement of the case by other directors means nothing as none have accepted liability, just a way to avoid having to stand in court and testify and as I understand how Tesla corporate insurance is set up, their payments came directly from Musk as he self insures the directors.

Regards,