Musk endeavours

[BobbyD]

this is a commodity space, not one that is likely to drive good margins for VW even if they can reach their manufacturing goals.

This Whatcar test drive of a prototype Buzz suggests over £50k for the passenger versions, hardly commodity pricing :
https://www.whatcar.com/news/2022-volks ... ate/n24171

With lithium prices up over 4-fold in the last year, pricing is going to be challenging for the next few years.

The Buzz starts at £57k, the cargo about £10k cheaper.

Doubtless now the non-commodity price will be a reason for their inevitable failure...

[odysseus2000]

this is a commodity space, not one that is likely to drive good margins for VW even if they can reach their manufacturing goals.

This Whatcar test drive of a prototype Buzz suggests over £50k for the passenger versions, hardly commodity pricing :
https://www.whatcar.com/news/2022-volks ... ate/n24171

With lithium prices up over 4-fold in the last year, pricing is going to be challenging for the next few years.

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Sure if there is no other supply and folk have to have electric to get into London or similar, then at that point one as something above commodity, but soon there will be loads of competition. Amazon have had electric delivery vans for years.

Regards,

[TUK020]

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Yup, but a pick up is an entirely different matter. Different. Entirely.

[odysseus2000]

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Yup, but a pick up is an entirely different matter. Different. Entirely.

Ha Ha!

Yes, with the Cyber truck it is, as it offers many features that are not found on the Ford 150 lightning, the most important being its looks that makes it unmistakeable even to people who can not normally tell one make from another.

The Ford 150 is the best selling vehicle, as far as I understand, in the US and as such is both a car and a utility vehicle, whereas a delivery van is a utility vehicle and does not substitute for a car like a pickup does.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Yup, but a pick up is an entirely different matter. Different. Entirely.

..or atleast it will be if Tesla ever actually make one. Sorry I mean get one to production. Obviously they have made one. Possibly as many as 4!

[BobbyD]

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Yup, but a pick up is an entirely different matter. Different. Entirely.

Ha Ha!

Yes, with the Cyber truck it is, as it offers many features that are not found on the Ford 150 lightning, the most important being its looks that makes it unmistakeable even to people who can not normally tell one make from another.

The Ford 150 is the best selling vehicle, as far as I understand, in the US and as such is both a car and a utility vehicle, whereas a delivery van is a utility vehicle and does not substitute for a car like a pickup does.

Regards,

The Buzz isn't a delivery van, that's the Buzz.cargo.

[odysseus2000]

According to VW the Buzz is from VW commercial vehicles:

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/el ... -buzz.html

Seems VW think it's a van and are making it has a commercial vehicle.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

It is a van, who pays a premium for a van?

Yup, but a pick up is an entirely different matter. Different. Entirely.

..or atleast it will be if Tesla ever actually make one. Sorry I mean get one to production. Obviously they have made one. Possibly as many as 4!

The production version of the Cyber truck will use cast body parts and the casting machine has not yet arrived, but has apparently passed all its tests and will be de-assembled and then shipped to Austin Giga factory, Texas.

So as of now there are no production Cyber trucks, just prototypes, but soon (Q3 or Q4 2022) they will be rolling off the line.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

According to VW the Buzz is from VW commercial vehicles:

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/el ... -buzz.html

Seems VW think it's a van and are making it has a commercial vehicle.

Regards,

Seems you don't know how VW works.

The Buzz and the Buzz.cargo will both be built by VWCV in Hannover, in the same way that the Audi Q4 e-tron is built alongside VW's ID.4 in Zwickau.

The Buzz in Europe will be a 5 seater, with a longer wheel base 3 row version available in the States.

[odysseus2000]

According to VW the Buzz is from VW commercial vehicles:

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/en/el ... -buzz.html

Seems VW think it's a van and are making it has a commercial vehicle.

Regards,

Seems you don't know how VW works.

The Buzz and the Buzz.cargo will both be built by VWCV in Hannover, in the same way that the Audi Q4 e-tron is built alongside VW's ID.4 in Zwickau.

The Buzz in Europe will be a 5 seater, with a longer wheel base 3 row version available in the States.

Thank you for the clarification.

Regards,

[BobbyD]

U.S. agency upgrades Tesla Autopilot safety probe, step before possible recall

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Thursday said it was upgrading its probe into 830,000 Tesla (TSLA.O) vehicles with its advanced driver assistance system Autopilot, a required step before it could seek a recall.

The auto safety agency in August opened a preliminary evaluation to assess the performance of the system in 765,000 vehicles after about a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles struck stopped emergency vehicles -- and said Thursday it had identified six additional crashes.

NHTSA is upgrading its probe to an engineering analysis, which it must do before demanding a recall if deemed necessary.

The auto safety regulator is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure drivers are paying attention. The agency added evidence suggested drivers in most crashes under review had complied with Tesla's alert strategy that seeks to compel driver attention,raising questions about its effectiveness.

- https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 022-06-09/

[BobbyD]

Tesla seems to be buying quite a lot of things you find in self driving sensor suites, which are better than the ones in their self driving senor suites...

Tesla files to use a new radar and everyone is confused

- https://electrek.co/2022/06/08/tesla-fi ... -confused/

Now The Korea Economic Daily reports that Samsung has a won a contract estimated to be worth between 4 trillion won and 5 trillion won ($3.2 billion-$4 billion) to supply Tesla with new cameras:

The publication reported on the specific cameras to be supplied to Tesla:

The components to be supplied this time will be Samsung’s version 4.0 camera modules with 5 million pixels, which show five times clearer images than the company’s previous 3.0 modules.

This would be a major upgrade over the cameras used in Tesla’s current Autopilot sensor suite, which are believed to only have a resolution of about 1.2 megapixels.

- https://electrek.co/2022/06/10/tesla-se ... f-driving/

[PhaseThree]

To be honest anyone who thinks that camera resolution is the solution hasn't understood the problem. The Tesla system is nowhere near as capable in the real world as Tesla/Musk want you to believe.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... tion-nhtsa

If you are looking for a glimpse of the real thing take a look at mobileye (Owned by Intel and heading for an IPO in the near future)
https://www.mobileye.com/
https://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-anal ... -ipo-2022/

[BobbyD]

To be honest anyone who thinks that camera resolution is the solution hasn't understood the problem. The Tesla system is nowhere near as capable in the real world as Tesla/Musk want you to believe.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... tion-nhtsa

Anyone who believes camera resolution is the only problem ...I would agree with, but I still have 'photos' I took in 2006 with my LG Prada and significant doubts that a camera with a significantly lower resolution regardless of its other properties, is fit for purpose in a self driving system allowed on to the public roads.

If you are looking for a glimpse of the real thing take a look at mobileye (Owned by Intel and heading for an IPO in the near future)
https://www.mobileye.com/
https://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-anal ... -ipo-2022/

If Intel sell off my stake in Mobileye I will be pissed. See also Aptiv, Waymo, Cruise...

[PhaseThree]

To be honest anyone who thinks that camera resolution is the solution hasn't understood the problem. The Tesla system is nowhere near as capable in the real world as Tesla/Musk want you to believe.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... tion-nhtsa

Anyone who believes camera resolution is the only problem ...I would agree with, but I still have 'photos' I took in 2006 with my LG Prada and significant doubts that a camera with a significantly lower resolution regardless of its other properties, is fit for purpose in a self driving system allowed on to the public roads.

If you are looking for a glimpse of the real thing take a look at mobileye (Owned by Intel and heading for an IPO in the near future)
https://www.mobileye.com/
https://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-anal ... -ipo-2022/

If Intel sell off my stake in Mobileye I will be pissed. See also Aptiv, Waymo, Cruise...

I'll be buying if the price is right....

[BobbyD]

To be honest anyone who thinks that camera resolution is the solution hasn't understood the problem. The Tesla system is nowhere near as capable in the real world as Tesla/Musk want you to believe.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... tion-nhtsa

Anyone who believes camera resolution is the only problem ...I would agree with, but I still have 'photos' I took in 2006 with my LG Prada and significant doubts that a camera with a significantly lower resolution regardless of its other properties, is fit for purpose in a self driving system allowed on to the public roads.

If you are looking for a glimpse of the real thing take a look at mobileye (Owned by Intel and heading for an IPO in the near future)
https://www.mobileye.com/
https://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-anal ... -ipo-2022/

If Intel sell off my stake in Mobileye I will be pissed. See also Aptiv, Waymo, Cruise...

I'll be buying if the price is right....

Well it's slightly ironic. When I got in to Intel given the choice between being able to invest in the company as a whole, or their non-core projects, especially Mobileye I'd have taken the latter like a shot. Now they actually have some halfway decent plans for their core business I might have to repurchase the Mobileye stake independently....

[odysseus2000]

Tesla to seek authority for 3:1 stock split:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... ce=twitter

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

BobbyD
Well it's slightly ironic. When I got in to Intel given the choice between being able to invest in the company as a whole, or their non-core projects, especially Mobileye I'd have taken the latter like a shot. Now they actually have some halfway decent plans for their core business I might have to repurchase the Mobileye stake independently....

Mobileye is unlikely to have its ipo until market conditions improve and some of the suggested valuations like $50b seem wild to me:

https://www.cityindex.co.uk/market-anal ... -ipo-2022/

Prior to the Intel acquisition it was trading at $10.5 billion and Intel intend to retain a stake.

As is there is intense hype about it and its supposed data collection from vehicles using its cameras when VW for example can't get over the air updates to work well.

The mode of operation is also unclear with some believing that cameras alone are not good enough and a lidar system must be used with all the associated problems with LIDAR for mass use.

In many respects Mobileye has a lot in common with quantum scape. Both business promise a lot but don't deliver much.

Regards,

[odysseus2000]

Interesting motivational message to Tesla employees:

https://twitter.com/heydave7/status/153 ... BWouUcIW7w

Regards,

[BobbyD]

Interesting motivational message to Tesla employees:

https://twitter.com/heydave7/status/153 ... BWouUcIW7w

Regards,

Well how else does he build them up for one of those insane end of quarter rushes he announced Tesla had moved passed?