Tesla faces Cybertruck demand issues, offering discounts up to $10,000. Older models and Musk's focus on AI over auto manufacturing contribute to the problem. Quality concerns impact traditional car buyers.
Waymo, the widely accepted leader in current autonomous technology, has expanded slowly in part due to its need for high-fidelity maps and intense beta testing in each new city where it operates.
While this is par for the course with Tesla events—the company abhors deadlines of any sort, especially those its sets itself—at least part of the delay appears to be due to a medical emergency in the crowd, according to Elon Musk's X account.
Krzysztof Czarnecki, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo and a member of SAE task forces for automated driving said that a Tesla Robotaxi with its current set of hardware and software “would cause mayhem and accidents and [the cars] will disappear very quickly from the road.”
As we reported earlier this week, renewed Chinese EV subsidies gave Tesla a needed boost across the world, especially as its U.S. market share shrinks and players like Hyundai and General Motors step up to fill that vacuum.
While the sticker price of an EV is unlikely to drop below $30,000 anytime soon, Caldwell said the automotive industry is finding other ways to make these cars more attainable for the average consumer.
