Autonomous Systems

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Would you ever own an autonomous vehicle?

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Seananigans

Seananigans

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Yup, dumb article is dumb. I didn't preorder my model 3 for hippie reasons, I did it because it's fucking awesome, and will outperform everything on the market that's in a comparable price bracket, and quite a few that are in a higher bracket.

Suck it, haters.
 
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mkopec

mkopec

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Tesla passes General Motors to become the most valuable US automaker

LOL

General Motors sold about 10 million cars in 2016 compared with Tesla's roughly 76,000.


Tesla has only had two profitable quarters in its history as a public company, while GM earned a profit of more than $9 billion last year.


Tesla shares rose more than 3 percent to reach a fresh all-time high of $313.73 in midafternoon trading Monday, after receiving the highest price forecast ever issued for the stock by an analyst at a major firm.


On Monday, PiperJaffray analyst Alexander Potter published a note upgrading his rating on the stock from neutral to overweight and raising his price target from $223 to $368.

Just waiting for that bubble to burst...
 
Abefroman

Abefroman

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mkopec said:
Tesla passes General Motors to become the most valuable US automaker

LOL

General Motors sold about 10 million cars in 2016 compared with Tesla's roughly 76,000.


Tesla has only had two profitable quarters in its history as a public company, while GM earned a profit of more than $9 billion last year.


Tesla shares rose more than 3 percent to reach a fresh all-time high of $313.73 in midafternoon trading Monday, after receiving the highest price forecast ever issued for the stock by an analyst at a major firm.


On Monday, PiperJaffray analyst Alexander Potter published a note upgrading his rating on the stock from neutral to overweight and raising his price target from $223 to $368.

Just waiting for that bubble to burst...
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You have a lot of people who are afraid of missing the next big thing. It's valued like a tech company and has the kind of brand admiration that Apple used to have. It is grossly overpriced for what the company is now but a lot of people are betting on the future and the price reflects that. People are bored with Japanese cars and stuff coming out of Michiganistan. Tesla is a perfect example on how feelsdata effects stock prices.
 
Cad

Cad

scientia potentia est
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Abefroman said:
You have a lot of people who are afraid of missing the next big thing. It's valued like a tech company and has the kind of brand admiration that Apple used to have. It is grossly overpriced for what the company is now but a lot of people are betting on the future and the price reflects that. People are bored with Japanese cars and stuff coming out of Michiganistan. Tesla is a perfect example on how feelsdata effects stock prices.
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Also they have a cool product that no other company is even attempting to replicate right now.
 
Palum

Palum

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Tesla needs to put out and support Model 3 development for a few years before I'd even consider it stable as a manufacturer, get past the preorders and have lots with them available to buy. It's not hard to sell trendy shit at boutique prices, it's hard to mass produce quality products. The sheer amount of preorders should scare anyone with half a brain and some experience with the gaming industry.
 
kegkilla

kegkilla

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Abefroman said:
Tesla is a perfect example on how feelsdata effects stock prices.
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I mean, how you feel about the future performance of a company weighed against its current valuation is pretty much the essence of buying/selling stock.
 
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Abefroman

Abefroman

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kegkilla said:
I mean, how you feel about the future performance of a company weighed against its current valuation is pretty much the essence of buying/selling stock.
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Pretty much. I'm not arguing against that or even disagree with it.

Palum said:
Tesla needs to put out and support Model 3 development for a few years before I'd even consider it stable as a manufacturer, get past the preorders and have lots with them available to buy. It's not hard to sell trendy shit at boutique prices, it's hard to mass produce quality products. The sheer amount of preorders should scare anyone with half a brain and some experience with the gaming industry.
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The reliability of these cars is also going to be a huge fucking deal. They have been able to get away with some quality issues with the 100k plus models because those cars are just that amazing and you are willing to forgive that. I see a lot of people paying more for a car then they ever have just to have a Tesla 3. If they aren't reliable it is going to be a big story.
 
Palum

Palum

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Abefroman said:
Pretty much. I'm not arguing against that or even disagree with it.



The reliability of these cars is also going to be a huge fucking deal. They have been able to get away with some quality issues with the 100k plus models because those cars are just that amazing and you are willing to forgive that. I see a lot of people paying more for a car then they ever have just to have a Tesla 3. If they aren't reliable it is going to be a big story.
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Yea, I am very skeptical of them pushing all the high-tech gizmos on the Model 3. They should have just made a good electric sedan first and left the S+ models as the testbeds and start adding options down the road as they become standard and reliable.
 
Lambourne

Lambourne

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Tesla anything seems to be hugely booming lately. I'm sort of car shopping and I looked at used Model S prices (and there's a fair number available here because of tax credits) Cheapest I saw was a 2013 with 65k miles going for €60k, and most are more like 75-80k. That's decked-out, brand new 5-series money. I get that it's a cool and hip car, but it's not THAT nice. Tesla bubble seems about right.
 
Tuco

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Looking forward to seeing this.

I feel like you need enough mileage such that a trucker never has to stop because he's out of juice. Not sure if many truckers drive for the full 11 consecutive hours usually, or it's closer to 4-6. So you might need a truck that can run for 8+ hours before needing a charge.

Electric trucks make less sense than electric cars because you don't lose as much weight, percentage wise, by going from combustion engine to electric. But what would be especially interesting is if they added solar panels to the trailer. Unlike cars you have a lot of flat space you could use (though it'd reduce the available cargo space, especially if you wanted to actuate the panels).

You usually get 200watts/meter on a good day for solar panels. The top of a 53' trailer is typically 2.6 m x 15.8 or 41 square meters. So you'd have 8.2kw available from solar.

I think while freeway driving the model S consumes 20kw (travels 300miles in 5 hours on a 100kwh battery) of juice, so a truck hauling a trailer and getting 8kw of power isn't going to dramatically change the game. I think a fully loaded semi-truck requires around 7x as much energy to maintain speed as a passenger car.


So, beyond the solar panels not being a great proof of concept, I'm eager to see what kind of semi-truck they come up with. One advantage of semi-trucks is you can plan effective routes and have drivers go to set stops.
 
Cad

Cad

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Tuco said:


Looking forward to seeing this.

I feel like you need enough mileage such that a trucker never has to stop because he's out of juice. Not sure if many truckers drive for the full 11 consecutive hours usually, or it's closer to 4-6. So you might need a truck that can run for 8+ hours before needing a charge.

Electric trucks make less sense than electric cars because you don't lose as much weight, percentage wise, by going from combustion engine to electric. But what would be especially interesting is if they added solar panels to the trailer. Unlike cars you have a lot of flat space you could use (though it'd reduce the available cargo space, especially if you wanted to actuate the panels).

You usually get 200watts/meter on a good day for solar panels. The top of a 53' trailer is typically 2.6 m x 15.8 or 41 square meters. So you'd have 8.2kw available from solar.

I think while freeway driving the model S consumes 20kw (travels 300miles in 5 hours on a 100kwh battery) of juice, so a truck hauling a trailer and getting 8kw of power isn't going to dramatically change the game. I think a fully loaded semi-truck requires around 7x as much energy to maintain speed as a passenger car.


So, beyond the solar panels not being a great proof of concept, I'm eager to see what kind of semi-truck they come up with. One advantage of semi-trucks is you can plan effective routes and have drivers go to set stops.
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I'm interested in seeing this, because I think the electric motors would be very well suited for tractor work. But, I think you'd end up with a lot of battery. Say a 100D right now has a 100KwH battery.. you'd probably need, say, 2000KwH or 2500KwH to make the semi truck work, because you'd not only need 7 times as much energy to maintain speed (is it only 7 times?) but you'd take TREMENDOUS energy to get 80klbs up to speed... How heavy would that be? Does a semi truck necessarily care about the weight of the tractor when it already weighs so much? Would the weight of the battery make it impractical? 2500KwH of tesla batteries at the current density would be something ridiculous like 25k lbs.
 
Tuco

Tuco

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Cad said:
Does a semi truck necessarily care about the weight of the tractor when it already weighs so much? Would the weight of the battery make it impractical? 2500KwH of tesla batteries at the current density would be something ridiculous like 25k lbs.
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Trucks are often around 20k lbs, trailers 10k and typical loads are up to 50k. So 80k lbs is typical.

So if we're talking about a 25k lbs battery, it'll be much heavier.

We'll see what Tesla produces.
 
Cad

Cad

scientia potentia est
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Tuco said:
Trucks are often around 20k lbs, trailers 10k and typical loads are up to 50k. So 80k lbs is typical.

So if we're talking about a 25k lbs battery, it'll be much heavier.

We'll see what Tesla produces.
Click to expand...

I think you're right about the solar on the trailer thing though, its a total non-starter because cars/trucks use SO MUCH POWER compared to how much a reasonably sized solar array generates. Even with a trailer-sized solar array powering just a model S, the model S couldn't run on that little power.
 
Abefroman

Abefroman

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I can see this be very feasible for semis that deliver within cities. You are talking a fuck ton of semis across the country that don't drive more then 100 miles a day. Also with multiple stops having the ability to supercharge where they deliver if they own the stores. I don't see this working or being worth it for long hauls simply because of weight restrictions.
 
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Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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Now that I live in Hawaii, I see Tesla all the time. The old sedan as well as the new suv. They're fucking everywhere. Probably encounter a dozen or more per day, every day.

It helps that every single shopping center has lots of free electric car battery charging parking spaces.
 
Hachima

Hachima

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Cad said:
Thats a ~5000lb plane with a 230 foot wingspan... lol. Is it filled with helium? How the fuck is it so light?
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Yeah the materials they came up with for that plane are pretty amazing. The carbon fiber sheets are 3x lighter than regular paper covering the same surface area. I remember the first flight of 10 hours had a max speed of 28mph. I think I remember seeing somewhere else it has a max speed of ~50mph. While slow that is pretty impressive too in that it can fly at that speed and not stall. Motor gliders that have a lower stall speed but 2x the wingspan than your average Cessna still have stall speed of ~45mph.
 
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