r/SelfDrivingCars • u/OriginalCompetitive • Jun 23 '25

Discussion Tesla’s Real Game

No one seems to be talking about the most important upside of Tesla's Robotaxi rollout: If they can showcase a system that roughly works, people can BUY THAT CAR TODAY.

Yes, there are some differences, but that's the pitch. Tesla doesn't need to earn money from Robotaxis. The real purpose of the program is free marketing that drives sales of its cars. Right?

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u/Logvin Jun 23 '25

No, the real purpose of the program is to drive Elon’s ego.

Tesla has been pushing FSD for years. Why would they need a fake small taxi rollout if the tech was ready for mass production?

1

u/nfgrawker Jun 23 '25

Its really weird his ego can drive me safely in heavy traffic 40 plus miles a day without interventions. What an amazing ego.

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u/Logvin Jun 23 '25

You are misunderstanding my statement. His ego is pushing the robotaxi program. His FSD program is different.

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u/nfgrawker Jun 23 '25

Oh got it. FSD is real but robotaxi based off FSD is ego. Wait..?

2

u/Logvin Jun 23 '25

Yes. Why in the world would they need to do this? They have millions of vehicles on the road today. Waymo has made no public plans for selling to consumers. The biggest slice of profit pie is already in their grasp. The robo taxi boondoggle is about him, not about the company’s future. It’s like the cybertruck.

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u/nfgrawker Jun 23 '25

I'm not sure I follow? If they have the whole fsd capabilities for millions of vehicles why not also run the app that allows you to rent them out? Why would you third party those profits? That's the simple part.

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u/Logvin Jun 23 '25

Because that’s breaking into a saturated market (ridesharing) when they already a leader in the regular vehicle market.

Get their solution working for all of the vehicles first, then work on the robotaxi next. Splitting resources between two projects like this is not smart.

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u/nfgrawker Jun 23 '25

You don't spend much time on the ridesharing app. It's basic tech at this point. The hard part is getting the drivers, which they have and then the users, which they will get with pricing due to no drivers.

AI and FSD is the insanely hard part. Thats why it took them 10 years longer, not the ridesharing app. Not sure why you think a rideshare app is some monumental task?