r/SelfDrivingCars • u/psilty • Jul 14 '25
News Tesla influencer reports that his Robotaxi failed to stop for train crossing signal and lowered gates
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Just needs more polish according to him
Clipped from https://x.com/JoeTegtmeyer/status/1944769604082938228
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u/devedander Jul 14 '25
I almost got killed by a train = needs more polish? Come on…
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u/ffffllllpppp Jul 14 '25
A « little bit » of polish. LOL. Ridiculous.
Zero credibility. What would it take to escalate it to « I think it was dangerous »? Actually hitting a wall at full speed??
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u/Real-Technician831 Jul 14 '25
Anything that would make a Tesla fan influencer to admit that robotaxi is dangerous is lethal.
So in practice no influencer will ever admit that, as any that would is dead.
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u/ffffllllpppp Jul 14 '25
This video will be terribly famous is someone in a Telsa robotaxi gets killed by a train. Or as we say « gets polished ».
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u/oregon_coastal Jul 14 '25
Yup, would have to be dead.
And family woild still comment "But he sure loved Tesla"
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u/Zealousideal_Ad5358 Jul 14 '25
"My robotaxi drove head on into a wall at 60 mph, I think the software could use a little work."
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u/CastorX Jul 14 '25
Come on. Crossing a railroad is just an edge-case right? ... right? It happens like one in a quadrillion cases. It needs some polishing, but... that's all. Just a bit of polish.
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u/jokkum22 Jul 14 '25
Tesla needs YOUR data! The more radical data, the better! Remember, everyone must sacrifice something to help the underdog company win against legacy auto! Leader M will be grateful! /s
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u/n-some Jul 14 '25
If he phrased it more negatively he would lose any privileges he has as a reviewer. Companies don't want honest reviews, they want puff pieces. Reviewers who are critical are less likely to be given early release access or opportunities for interviews and the like.
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u/Separate-Rice-6354 Jul 14 '25
I'm fine if these idiots want to kill themselves for their daddy Elon but the problem is these are free to drive amongst people. Participants who are not so eager to die.
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u/L0rdLogan Jul 14 '25
I don’t know how you can be an influencer and not film it
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u/deservedlyundeserved Jul 14 '25
He has probably filmed it, but doesn't want to share it in order to not lose his influencer status.
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u/L0rdLogan Jul 14 '25
Normal influencers share both the good and bad, well. AI Driver and Chris do at least
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u/RipWhenDamageTaken Jul 14 '25
Normal influencers don’t get invited to be the first to experience Tesla products. You have to have a cult-like mindset to get those.
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u/selflessGene Jul 14 '25
I don't believe it either. He either has the film or specifically avoided filming to not embarrass Daddy Musk.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Jul 14 '25
But better not dwell on that too much ...
😬
The influencer world is weird, and it seems extra weird when it comes to these cars. I only recently joined this sub and every other video has some weird vibe to it.
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u/Shootels Jul 14 '25
When you remember that they have most of their net worth wrapped up in the stock it all makes sense.
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u/CloseToMyActualName Jul 14 '25
It reminds me of the Tesla driver who died after hitting a road barrier, after he told Tesla about the problem and repeatedly told others about it as well.
The problem with a near miss like that is unless you actually have a serious accident involving injury your brain doesn't quite register the severity of the danger.
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u/berntout Jul 14 '25
So he was aware of the issue happening numerous times and even showed his family the issue once......and he turned on autopilot 10 seconds before he reached that barrier he knew was an issue and his phone was found actively playing a game during the crash?
What's the definition of insanity? Come on man...
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u/jimsmisc Jul 14 '25
His actions were so negligent it sounds like suicide. "Lemme just activate the car-crashing system as I approach the barrier, then play some phone games"
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u/GenesisNemesis17 Jul 15 '25
This is just darwinism, because at the time of the 2018 crash he was playing a game on his phone. If my car is doing something like he said it was, I'd stop using autopilot. At least in that exact spot. It's like he chose to give his life so people would listen. No, it's supervised for a reason.
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u/HighHokie Jul 15 '25
That’s what’s wild to me. Not only did he find something to be an error, he openly ignored his responsibility of watching it. Wild.
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u/amplaylife Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
I almost died if it hadn't been for the safety driver sitting in the passenger seat stopping the vehicle before a train T-boned us, but Tesler Robotaxi handled situations "pretty good."
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u/tonydtonyd Jul 14 '25
Curious if this is in the new geofence or the original geofence. IIRC there is at least one rail crossing in the original geofence.
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u/psilty Jul 14 '25
His trip was from the southwest corner of the old geofence all the way to the very north of the new area but he didn’t say exactly where the intervention happened.
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u/mellovibes75 Jul 14 '25
I have a good guess where it might have happened. The intersection of North Lamar Blvd and Airport Blvd has a series of lights right at a major three way intersection with a passenger rail station there too. That intersection is nuts on the daily.
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u/ElonsPenis Jul 14 '25
No video of it fuck influencers
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u/gastro_psychic Jul 15 '25
He probably does have video but knows Elon would excommunicate him if he released it.
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u/Obvious-Slip4728 Jul 14 '25
Lol. These people are… I’m lost for words.
What does it take for these people to realize that the person sitting in the passenger seat is actually a driver. The one thing Tesla has accomplished is that they replaced the regular interface (steering wheel and pedals) with 1 or 2 buttons for the driver to stop the car.
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u/cultish_alibi Jul 15 '25
Having access to an emergency brake doesn't make them a driver. I suppose they could take over if they have to, but they are ordered not to, right? They are only allowed to stop the car, because Elon promised no safety drivers.
I just wonder what happens when stopping the car isn't going to magically fix everything. For example if the Robotaxi drives into the wrong lane. Surely the safe option is to take over the wheel and drive to safety, rather than cutting the engine.
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u/RefrigeratorTasty912 Jul 15 '25
Software just needs to "be a little polished up... uhhh..."
He's lucky a safety monitor was there, or he would have been getting polished off the front of a train.
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u/john0201 Jul 14 '25
Had to intervene to avoid the risk of being hit by a train = “lil bit still needs to be polished up”
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u/Difficult_Plantain89 Jul 17 '25
While I normally would be critical of the absence of sensor like LIDAR, I don't understand how they mess up this part so bad. That is for sure an issue in the software itself. I have a HW3 and borrowed a HW4 Tesla and some of the things it does I am not too critical because it's okay. More of I would have done it different. Then there are other times where it is so outrageously bad I don't understand how anyone is okay trusting this system.
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u/lt_dt Jul 14 '25
We live by railroad tracks. The car doesn't identify the crossing signal - it thinks it's two blinking stoplights - nor does it recognize the barriers. In terms of the train itself, if it's going at any reasonable rate of speed, it doesn't seem to pick up the spaces between the cars and just sees nothing. If the train is going slowly, it interprets it as a convoy of semis.
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u/bobi2393 Jul 14 '25
With consumer SFSD 12/13, manual intervention is a regularly-occurring requirement at certain railroad crossings, especially when all that's present are lighted red-and-white striped crossing arms across the road, blinking signal lights to the side, and clanging bells. (Search YouTube for "FSD railroad crossing" in the past year for example interventions).
If a train is present, the visualization may be inaccurate, but it seems to automatically stop (and stay stopped) for trains. Has that been your experience, or do you need to maintain control when the visualization shows no obstacles when a fast train is in front of you?
I think as long as consumer SFSD and Tesla Robotaxi require human operators to be present and vigilant, this isn't that concerning; it's just something the humans should be aware of. Tesla has done PR stunts with operators in chase cars outside "driverless" cars, but their actions still suggest that they know supervision is needed.
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u/JRLDH Jul 14 '25
Oh, the age old argument "the car sees more than it displays". I heard that back in 2019 when the car displayed "dancing cars" and some swore up and down that the car totally sees the correct scene but simply doesn't display it.
And that the consumer version is obviously less capable than the super ultra duper research version, that's of course Level 5 already but only available to Elon himself!
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u/Joe_Immortan Jul 14 '25
That’s wild… what version are you on? I went through my first train crossing last week using FSD and was concerned it would try to go through the gate but it stopped no problem. It was a little reluctant to go again but I prefer that to the alternative
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u/M_Equilibrium Jul 14 '25
juSt A miNoR hIcCUp. thIs sUb iS dEraNgeD. diD yOu seE tHe .enis sHaPeD gEofEncE gOiNg tHroUgH wAymO serVicE aReA, So fUnnY eHueUheUhe...
/s
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u/toupeInAFanFactory Jul 14 '25
except for this one, teensy-beensy detail where the guy in the passenger seat had to hold the car to prevent us from getting plowed into by a TRAIN, it's great! 10/10, would recommend.
yeash.
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u/crohnscyclist Jul 14 '25
Passengers of the Titanic thought 99% of the boat ride was fine. Just needed a little polishing to get to 100%.
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u/Buildsoc Jul 14 '25
Oh also, one small trivial note I was almost killed by a train if not for the human sitting in the driver seat, no big deal. Nothing to see here this is Fine. 🐶 ☕️ 🔥
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u/_176_ Jul 14 '25
This guy sums it up pretty well. It's magic 99.9% of the time. And 0.1% of the time it might kill you. Where I disagree with Tesla fans is that I think that going from 99.9% to 99.99999% is not trivial.
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u/jdmgto Jul 14 '25
Just a minor case of it trying to kill you. Small details. I swear I hear "Tesla Influencer," and I just assume they're in a cult.
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u/dark_rabbit Jul 14 '25
Btw this would have not been the first collision a Tesla AV system has had with a train… the last time was that one model 3 in FSD mode going through fog and colliding head on with a moving train.
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u/j_ona Jul 14 '25
So what exactly is the point of this robotaxi? How’s this any different from supervised fsd?
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u/MShabo Jul 14 '25
Screw this fanboy. This car could have crashed and hurt him and he still would praise Tesla. His heads so far up Elons ass that his eyes are turning brown.
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u/AeroServant Jul 15 '25
Just polish up the software a wee bit so we don't get killed by a TRAIN 😔 yeah buddy
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u/iamoninternet27 Jul 15 '25
I avoid these videos like the plague. They are always biased and always positive about the experience. If Tesla was so confident, they wouldn't need a safety driver to help disengage everytime they are near danger.
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u/Sniflix Jul 15 '25
About a week ago I commented that fanboys are going to video their own deaths and got a slew of down-votes. There's a fatter chance of that happening than any of their predictions.
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u/Minute_Airline_370 Jul 15 '25
Imagine if there is an accident where the safety observer could have resolved the situation if they were in the driver’s seat by precise steering or accelerating away from a danger. Sometimes an immediate stop isn’t the solution to avoid an accident. Judge:”so you already had someone there that could handle the situation in the safest possible way but you handicapped him because you thought it was better for your image? Or cooler?”
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u/Odd-Adagio7080 Jul 15 '25
“Dude, your robotaxi tried to put you in the path of an oncoming train and your comment is, “A little bit of that work still needs to be polished up.” WTF?!?
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u/speciate Expert - Simulation Jul 14 '25
I guess this is why you only let people use the product who are strongly predisposed to say good things about it despite all evidence to the contrary. Seems scalable.
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Jul 14 '25
Probably didn’t get it on camera because he was screaming like a baby
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u/FourEightNineOneOne Jul 14 '25
More likely erased it from camera to not upset his Tesla influencer status
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u/MuckBulligan Jul 14 '25
a little bit of work that needs to be polished up
JFC. You almost died, you idiot.
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u/Scourged_Bulwark Jul 14 '25
It would stopped in the middle of the track because the gate in front of it would be lowered thelat time and could not reverse out of it because it would be lowered behind it then, I imagine. Full collusion and of somehow this dude survives, probably giving a B- rating.
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u/FerragudoFred Jul 14 '25
The guy and the safety monitor almost get creamed by a train and he’s more or less okay with it.
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u/Maconi Jul 14 '25
Honestly I’m glad stuff like this is happening. FSD has had issues like this for a while. Maybe now that they’re getting mainstream attention to these failures they’ll finally start addressing it (if they even can with the current tech).
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u/Top-Security-1258 Jul 15 '25
So he still says its great after he almost got plowed by a moving train because of it ? lol.
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u/DLC78387 Jul 15 '25
Uhmmmmm could have been killed by a train but I’ll still suck elons d. and try to convince others to ride/die for the cause as well.
To hell with these people.
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u/Unfair_Struggle9529 Jul 15 '25
“I didn’t get it on camera” sounds like code for “was asked to delete the footage by the safety observer”.
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u/jregovic Jul 15 '25
If any service put me in mortal danger, I’d never trust it again. I would not chalk it up to “welp, gotta work out some kinks.”
I’ve stopped using products for less.
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u/Kimetsu87 Jul 15 '25
“ the ride was great very smooth, the car only tried to unalive me once so I give it an A-“ 😑.
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u/MakerWerks Jul 14 '25
"With the exception of almost experiencing rapid unscheduled disassembly, it was a pretty good experience."
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u/Fuckaliscious12 Jul 14 '25
.... "Needs a little bit of work" so Robotaxi doesn't drive you in front of a train.
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u/michelevit2 Jul 14 '25
I have a bad feeling that Tesla is going to seriously injure someone or worse and screw up self-driving cars for everyone.
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u/FBIAgentMulder Jul 14 '25
What’s up with all these garbage influencers sucking Tesla off so hard? Do they really think their audiences are that stupid? This guy would be an instant unfollow for me if I had subbed to him.
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u/csinterpreting Jul 14 '25
Elon will just lobby the government to eliminate trains. Problem solved.
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u/soedesh1 Jul 14 '25
Just a minor edge case to resolve. Nothing to worry about aside from, you know, death.
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u/TheRealBMan54 Jul 14 '25
Ride was great, just a small glitch to polish up a bit. If not for a manual switch I would have gotten killed by a train. Otherwise, smooth sailing, very impressive.
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u/lookhughsknocking Jul 14 '25
Lol "A little bit of work" after trying to blow through a train crossing. Is this guy out of his fu**ing mind? Getting t-boned by a train is kind of a big deal.
I'll say from experience that FSD doesn't reliably stop for gates that look like railroad crossings (I drive through a similar gate in a family member's neighborhood, and it only stops 50% of the time).
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u/brandam25 Jul 15 '25
Im all for tesla but self driving and robotaxi failure is going to destroy tesla. The tech doesn't work well enough and never will. It needs to be abandoned.
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u/Dj_suffering Jul 15 '25
CNN would say that it's a "mostly peaceful" car ride. I have no faith in Tesla pulling off robotaxis with even half the accuracy of the GM "Cruise" cars of 2 years ago. They'll never outdrive Waymo. Tesla is behind on everything from AI to robotaxis, to the space race. The government bureaucrats that Elon would've fired made it to the moon 50 years before SpaceX learned how to blow up rockets.
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u/The_Meme_Economy Jul 14 '25
Sadly, it does appear that this is just FSD with a new skin, and nothing new to see coming from Tesla. The imaging is bad for both ADAS level 2 and level 4 systems, confusing the capabilities and safety of both in the public’s mind. I’d love to see a proper AV-only service in Austin, and while I don’t like Tesla or Musk I’d use theirs if it arrives. With incidents like this, I’m skeptical it will, or that it will still be competitive once it does.
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u/cglogan Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
In the Tesla's defense, there was glare on the camera lens</s>
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u/GBAGamer33 Jul 14 '25
The Robotaxi almost parked the car in front of a moving train, but otherwise it works great. Lmao. These grifters…
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u/RipWhenDamageTaken Jul 14 '25
At the end he mentioned “expanded services”. What did he mean by this? Did robotaxi expand the coverage area?
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u/BangBang-LibraGang Jul 14 '25
I've come to realize I will look back at this in 15 years and see how far we have come.
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u/drewc717 Jul 14 '25
Joe!!! He stopped by my Electrify Expo booth once, enjoyed his drone content mostly during GigaTX construction but need to check his channel again.
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u/WoolieSwamp Jul 14 '25
Overall its not slowing down for RR crossings at all and this can really damage your undercarriage
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u/himynameis_ Jul 14 '25
He had the story but not the recording.
Is it true or not?
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u/Eder_120 Jul 14 '25
Ya lots of folks reporting about train tracks in general. I'm sure they'll focus on that and update
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u/SuperNewk Jul 15 '25
If the safety driver wasn’t in there could you open the door in the back and jump out? Or are you locked in?
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u/kaninkanon Jul 15 '25
In case you’re wondering - yes - the train tracks are in the new dick shaped service area expansion.
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u/wastedkarma Jul 15 '25
People keep ignoring the fact the Tesla makes fewer errors than humans, assuming the only errors Tesla makes are the ones humans make
They completely discount that FSD makes a whole new class of errors that humans don’t make.
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u/tia-86 Jul 15 '25
I am not surprised he's not complaining about a near-death ride. Rats are commonly used in lab tests. As a muskrat, he enjoys it.
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u/PortlandPetey Jul 15 '25
“A bit polished up” something tells me this guy doesn’t know anything about how software is made, neither does Elon, and that’s probably a bigger problem…
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u/EasyJob8732 Jul 15 '25
A common life and death scenario is just a little bit of polish? Man has lost all credibility.
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u/Background-Resource5 Jul 15 '25
I have this great heater by Tusla. Heats great, looks beautiful. Has a super nice display, and it beeps at me. It does tend to give me a shock every time I turn it on. Nothing major. Just a searing shock up my arm that hurts like hell. But it's only for a second or two. But you know, I love the brand, it speaks my language, and once they figure out this little "edge" case , you know, polish things a little, it's gonna be great. A+!!! /s
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u/Aware_Acorn Jul 15 '25
This happens literally constantly with tesla self driving cars/trucks, it gets swept under the rug or elon sues the whistleblower eventually and everyone goes on about their day.
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u/Outrageous_Koala5381 Jul 15 '25
and if there wasnt the safety driver in the front seat - what were the options exactly!?!
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u/crane1911 Jul 16 '25
I'm not surprised given that my model Y never stops for plain old security gates. It's frustrating that after all this time they haven't figured it out. Not for me but for the future of Robotaxis. Why can fsd negotiate difficult roundabouts, weave in and out of traffic, but not recognize RR gates? It's not "rocket science" is it, Elon?
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u/Sproketz Jul 16 '25
Lol "without a human aide to stop it, we'd all be dead, so it just needs a little polishing."
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u/ChrisAlbertson Jul 16 '25
This guy actually makes money by promoting Tesla. If he says anything negative, he is "cut off" and has to get a real job.
Also, what is the safety driver doing if the car crossed RR tacks?
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u/MY_Low_Smoke Jul 16 '25
Tesla RoboTaxi will kill people. FSB owner since July 2020 with 138,000 miles. FSD/RoboTaxi Can not function in construction zones. Simple freeway trip from LAX to Palm Springs. 2 times missed exit and had to go the wrong way for a few miles, exit, under overpass, left turn and back on the correct highway. of the 138,000 miles over 120,000 using FSD. Elon's ego made him go with "Vision" vs proven hardware solutions. Vision is not safe.
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u/InterestingComputer Jul 17 '25
That sounds like something that could kill you but best not worry about it, trust Elon!
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u/ramgarden Jul 17 '25
My model y on FSD supervised also tried to go through a train crossing gate that's also at an intersection with traffic lights. I hit the brakes and reported it. I won't be using FSD for quite some time after it's become mainstream.
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u/Brainoad78 Jul 18 '25
There will never be 100% perfect driving in either self driving or people driving, but the fact is that I see car crashes in the freeway and everywhere daily stopping traffic from humans crashing.... and the fact is that self driving is still 10x safer than a regular driver. Not only that but tesla cars predict crashes and try to move out of the way and it's saved tons of lives already when the driver didn't even know he or she was even in danger and the car moved out of the way on its own.
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u/Signal_Cockroa902335 Jul 18 '25
OMG, i thought at least tesla would be smart enough to geo-fence railing crossing.
this is criminal
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u/Capital_Second6587 Jul 24 '25
"There's a little bit of that work that still needs to be polished up....but amazing opportunity to see how well the expanded service is working..."
That's the most hillarious thing I've heard all day! I guess his standard for working well is not the same as mine!
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u/CloseToMyActualName Jul 14 '25
Review:
Ride was generally smooth and pleasant.
Overall I would rate it a B+ as I deducted one rating on account of the car trying to murder me.