So instead of trying to compete with BYD, they are leaving that space open for Chinese domination, and instead they are trying to catch up to the Waymo-Uber-Lyft race where Tesla has not even tried to compete yet.
To me, it just seems that Musk just doesn't believe in market capitalism and competition. Or that he's exceptionally terrible at it.
I believe a huge chunk of Tesla's valuation is based on their automation tech, despite having very little real success towards full automation. So they have to focus on that and try to prove they can deliver.
But I'm guessing they won't succeed, as there are fundamental flaws with the technology itself, that can't be solved by throwing more sensors at the problem.
It seems their stock valuation rests on an assumption that their self-driving tech is unique, useful and best-of-class. I don't see how they can benefit putting these claims to the test by trying to compete in the robotaxi market.
Their stock valuation rests entirely on large entities shorting the stock, and other large entities saying “I will take that bet!”. That’s pretty much it.
All stock valuation rests on like three entities making numbers up, that's not the thing. The question is how long will Wall Street keep Musky boy on the nice list if he is becoming more and more visibly incompetent.
But can it be solved by throwing less sensors at the problem? Cause that's what he's been doing. Removing sensors from the newer versions that were in the older ones.
Elon has literally said exactly this so many times. I think it is probably possible to make a car drive with just vision, but you make the task monumentally harder by not having things that ground you in reality, ie. lidar.
Someone told them the problem was just "too many variables", so they figured by taking away sensors, there are fewer variables. Therefore, better self-driving.
They'll scream and cry for protectionist policy once they lose the lower end of the market. Musk has one superpower and it's looting the public for his own benefit.
Not me, I see a bunch of Polestars already cruising around, and here Teslas are not even the most sold EV. Super cheap itty-bitty locally made EV "trucks" that are as big as a Smart are.