The news media has expended considerable effort researching and publishing information about the robotaxi business. This channel highlights some of the important articles.
CNBC reports that once again Elon Musk has lied to Tesla shareholders. He boasted that Tesla would be making a huge investment into AI in order to power their supposed robotaxi system. But it turns out that he has been directing the scarce supply of Nvidia AI chips from Tesla to xAI, a separate company that Musk has a huge financial stake in.
Fortune reports that Elon Musk is now facing a lawsuit alleging that he misled investors with fake "epic end of year" sales info while dumping billions of dollars of stock using insider information. This is of course similar to Musk recently propping up stock price with fake robotaxi claims.
NY Times article on the difficulties Cruise is facing to restarting commercial robotaxi service. Given their many problems described in the article one has to assume that GM will dump Cruise sooner rather than later.
Fortune reports on how difficult the robotaxi business is, and how Waymo has outlasted the other companies. But somehow Fortune is impressed with Waymo serving 50,000 rides/week. At $20/ride this is only about $50 million a year, a pittance compared to the billion dollars+ that they are spending.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that the federal regulation of vehicle automation is currently completely inadequate. Six US senators have called attention to how the NHTSA needs to change their hands off approach to autonomous vehicles.
StreetBlogs reports that autonomous vehicles are not doing very well, and many people are skeptical of them. Now advocates are demanding regulations for safety.
Electrek reports that after years of refusing, Tesla is finally reporting more in depth data for its (non-auto) Autopilot. And the numbers explain why they stopped reporting data completely back in 2022.
Somehow a Waymo was driving down a slow alley in Phoenix yet managed to hit a very large pole with enough speed to crumple the front end. The waiting passengers were not impressed and did not accept the offer of a replacement Waymo, one which got stuck at the crash scene.
Opinion piece in Bloomberg on how Elon Musk's pursuit of robotaxis could be a huge setback for Tesla. Musk has placed more of Tesla’s fortunes in the hands of public officials and processes beyond the routinely accommodating environs of the boardroom and the stock market. Reality, and a lower stock price, will surely result.
