Can the Tesla brand really move up a gear into a successful autonomous company?

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The Tesla brand is in full view as CEO Elon Musk tries to convince Chinese and American regulators as well as Tesla investors that the company's Full Self Driving (FSD) technology is almost ready to rival any driving task a human currently undertakes. That goal of autonomy is essential to continue sharing Tesla's value and trust.

Tesla's electric vehicles are minimalist. With extra-large touchscreens, an extensive proprietary fast-charging network and industry-leading performance, Tesla has made the dream of electrifying transportation a reality. The appeal of Tesla as a software company whose software happened to be embedded in EVs was intriguing to an early adopter audience. They believed that Musk had only positive intentions toward others and worked for the good of the mission and company he served.

Yet the other side of the proverbial coin bears witness to Tesla's periodic struggles. There have been all these late delivery dates for new models. There are missed battery targets. The Semi still hardly exists. The large delivery numbers have not been achieved.

The competition has arrived and is coming to life. Since consumers now have other EVs to choose from, the doomsday argument goes that Tesla's fall from dominance was bound to happen. How much more demand can Tesla really expect without price parity with budget ICE cars? It is true that the automotive industry is in flux. Legacy automakers need to reassure current shareholders as they develop new EV models and strengthen supply chains. Meanwhile, it is difficult for many to understand how Tesla could continue to justify its market capitalization without a new and affordable model or a breakthrough in robotaxi technology.

Challenges in Pursuing Truly Full Self-Driving

Musk, who once crowned himself Tesla's 'Technoking' in an SEC filing, is convinced that the company The most valuable asset is the data — Tesla's advanced sensor suite is installed in millions of vehicles and collects billions of miles of data per year. The thinking is that the size of its fleet and data collection could give Tesla the necessary foundation to become the first company to deploy full autonomy on a large scale.

Musk announced this during last week's quarterly results autonomous vehicles and AI were the main areas of focus at Tesla. The shares of companies, which were then on a downward decline, reversed their trend, but also fluctuated: at this time the value has lost $6 per share today and stands at $178.85.

Us CleanTechnica editor-in-chief Zachary Shahan asked: Why not Tesla start with a Tesla ride-hailing service that uses human drivers? As an entry into the later robotaxi/autonomous service, it would immediately be a new and likely profitable venture that would excite shareholders while they wait for further research and development in autonomy.

And wait, shareholders have to. a letter Posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website, Tesla is asking to respond to a variety of factors related to its Full Self Driving (FSD) capabilities. The information sought includes:

• the total number of kilometers traveled by consumers while using the system;
• a count of Hands-on-Wheel alerts;
• the design decisions behind the stricter monitoring of driver attention; And,
• other general decisions regarding the methods the company uses to formulate its FSD data.

NHTSA's investigation into Tesla's autonomy dates back to August 2021. At the time, Tesla's Autopilot methods for keeping drivers engaged were criticized, with the caveat that the system was too permissive, resulting in a “critical safety gap” between the expectations of the driver and the actual expectations of Autopilot. possibilities. In January 2023, Tesla acknowledged that it was investigating CEO Elon Musk's role in shaping Tesla's self-driving claims. Now, in 2024, we have the vision of Musk and a number of Tesla drivers who were recently invited to test out FSD. But where is the company actually in fulfilling the promise of true fully self-driving?

Those in the “Go, Elon!” The camp seems to sincerely expect strong Tesla growth from dramatic FSD improvements coming and driving growth. Then again, if Bloomberg As discussed this week, the development of self-driving vehicles has suffered many setbacks in recent years.

• Uber sold its self-driving car division after a fatal accident from which it never recovered.
• Argo AI, the startup Ford and Volkswagen had each made billions of dollars but went bankrupt after backers lost patience over how long it would take to commercialize the technology.
• General Motors' Cruise is crawling back from a crisis caused by one of its cars being run over and taking a pedestrian with it.

Waymo continues to chug along, but shows no signs of massive expansion. More under the radar, Wayve, a British self-driving startup founded in 2017, has raised $1.05 billion from high-profile investors including SoftBank, Microsoft and Nvidia. So money continues to flow in for different approaches and startups. But are these companies actually close to robotaxis for the masses?

Questions about Tesla's future and sharp transition

Getting back to Tesla, as if to prove it wasn't joking about a major transition to robotaxis, Tesla laid off most of its Supercharger team last week. Some analysts have suggested that the decision was driven by the realization that it will become increasingly difficult to make money charging fees as more companies enter the market. Yet the decision to reduce what the company does so well calls into question the pace of electric vehicle adoption in the US without ubiquitous and reliable charging stations. Will other car manufacturers and companies Real tackle the charging problems of EVs? If so, where does that leave Tesla? On the other hand, stock markets usually like it when companies lay off people. Will Tesla announce a stock buyback to appease investors?

Why can't investors – and innovators like Elon Musk – get enough of all things artificial intelligence? What if FSD is a technology that is years, if not decades, away from full commercial adoption? Bloomberg recently asked?

How will shareholders react to Musk's vision for FSD? As a reminder, the annual shareholder meeting will take place in a month, and votes are already being cast on whether we will continue to support the current Tesla board and compensate Musk as recommended. It's easy to forget that Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery said that Musk essentially: oversaw his own compensation plan – currently worth about $50 billion – with the help of compliant board members. The proclamation intensified criticism of the ineffective nature of Tesla's board of directors and their disinterest or inability to rein in their erratic leader. Is the company's announced switch to robotaxis another example of Musk's attention problems and the board's inability to manage its CEO?

Final Thoughts: What would life with autonomy everywhere look like?

In the Amazon Prime drama Uploading, Nathan often reflects on his life trajectory while driving an autonomous vehicle. As you can see in the clip below, the traffic around him flows at similar speeds in one direction, which is indicative of the way autonomy could move vehicles in the future. Nathan, who is here in his real life (You'll have to watch the show to see what I mean), is a bit of a crook. He ignores the computer navigation and rushes to direct traffic with a portable controller. A traffic controller, who watches from a distance, stops him and warns him. Nathan blames the vehicle's autonomy and adds a bit of insincere flirtation.

What do you think of this vision of future autonomous driving? Would Tesla's Robotaxi be similar? If your vision is a little different, what do you see instead?

We're looking for smart and creative responses in the chat below.