Brilliant - and congratulations by the way!

Thanks. It was a one year project.

There's a '68 Mini Cooper for sale nearby going for $40k which seems a little bonkers, considering there's another, an Italian import so a left hand drive, that's going for $18k in the other neighbouring state.

The Cybertruck has to be the ugliest, most outlandish vehicle ever to hit the road. Looks like something a vampire would drive. The Dracula Bloodmobile. Lets all hope it ends up like the DeLorean

Given that it is constructed like a battering ram, apparently with no crumple zones, I am surprised that it was ever allowed on the road in the US, and only discovered a few days ago, earlier this week, that it isn't legal to register a cyber truck for public road usage in the UK or anywhere in the EU. ..... Which begs the question as to why an international vehicle manufacturer would design and build a vehicle that cannot be sold to half the population of the industrialized world (UK and Europe v North America).

I'm not sure if the cyberpunk is legal for public road use in Japan, Australia or NZ, but it is possible that the cybertruck is effectively restricted to North America and developing/ third world countries.

Given that it is constructed like a battering ram, apparently with no crumple zones, I am surprised that it was ever allowed on the road in the US, and only discovered a few days ago, earlier this week, that it isn't legal to register a cyber truck for public road usage in the UK or anywhere in the EU. ..... Which begs the question as to why an international vehicle manufacturer would design and build a vehicle that cannot be sold (for use on public roads) to half the population of the industrialized world (UK and Europe v North America)?

I'm not sure if the cybertruck is legal for public road use in Japan, Australia or NZ, but it is possible that the Cybertruck is effectively restricted to North America and developing/ third world countries.

No matter what you think about Musk, Tesla cars, or EVs in general, building the Cyber truck just seems like a terrible business decision.

I have seen a few in our area. Who is his intended customer? It doesn’t look like something that would appeal to anyone except those he is alienating on a daily basis.

There was an horrific crash in the Bay Area of one of these vehicles. The proximate cause was alcohol (over twice the legal limit) and cocaine in the system of the driver. Car crashed into a retaining wall, burst into flames and killed all bar one of the people in the vehicle. Questions about not just the ferocity and quickness of the blaze, but also the difficulty of getting out of the interior of a Tesla vehicle in such circumstances. You'd hope there would be an NTSB investigation given similar issues in other crashes, but given Musk is now running the country, I doubt there will be.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/closer-loo...dmont-students

Driving in San Francisco the other day, a self-drive taxi drove up besides me. Over the course of a few hours, I saw maybe 10 of these things driving around, all driverless. I saw them pick up and drop off passengers. It's pretty amazing that this is now happening 'in production'. They seem to be using the Jaguar I-Pace SUV pretty exclusively.


Apparently they have 300 such vehicles in San Francisco - that's a lot!

That’s a very expensive vehicle for a company looking to make a profit.

I’ve taken a couple of Waymo rides. They drive way better than many human drivers, especially taxi and Uber drivers. And as a frequent pedestrian in S.F. I trust them far more actually to stop at crossings etc.

Lots of questions, but here’s just one.

Are they partly reliant on lines on the road? I don’t know if there are “country roads”, dirt roads, or sub-standard back alleys or similar in SF? Would they decline to drive you on a route that necessitated using sub-standard roads or lanes? Or they only do urban journeys?

That's a really good question; Actually, you've raised several questions right there.

There aren't really any 'country roads' in SF, but there certainly are several in other 'Waymo locations'.

Their own website says they do the 'whole of San Francisco' - 'the full 7 x 7' (a reference to the fact that SF is a 7 mile x 7 mile square).

1) But does that include every single street address? What about private gated communities (of which there are very few if any ...) that haven't been 'street-viewed'?
2) What about narrow or sub-standard back-alleys
3) What if a street is undergoing repairs and doesn't currently have 'white lines' temporarily?

There's a video here of a Waymo driving through a flooded pot-hole without slowing down as it didn't recognize what was going on:
(The waymo incident is very close to the start (20 secs?) the rest is just 'weather'.) Looks like the Waymo is running a red light, too!

Here's a fun video of Waymo cars taking care of themselves in their garage!

https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDriving...rging_station/

Most residential streets in S.F. have no side or middle of the road markings. I think they pretty consistently have stop or yield lines at junctions. So although lines are going to help, they clearly are just one part of LiDAR looks for.

In some ways an urban environment is more challenging due to a higher rate of interactions with pedestrians, bicyclists, parked cars etc.

I have become interested in a EV truck that won’t be available until 2026. Funded in large part by Jeff Bezos. (Check out SLATE auto). I may never buy one but am putting in a charging receptacle anyway. I do my own wiring with state inspection to stay safe and legal. I did my house, garage, and gazebo. In doing this job I have learned a lot and want to pass on something that could be overlooked even by a professional. The EV charging requires a NEMA 14-50 receptacle (unless hard wired). This is a 50 amp receptacle but all not created equal. They range in cost from $12-near $100. If you have one at your house make sure it’s not a cheap one. The issue is EV’s requires a constant high current and the cheap ones can get too hot and start a fire. Here is a photo of the one that came in my enclosure box and the better one I purchased. They both take the same plug but the better one is larger diameter. Would be interested in opinions on the SLATE truck.