It's only incredible engineering once it performs in the hands of buyers. It's an incredible demo until then.
replyI thought it was less of a demo and more like perfromance art?
replyThey still had to engineer the demo unit.
replyWhich may have been tailored for the demo - for example, put a very small battery pack in there, so that the weight is much lower than the weight of the actual car would be - it only needs to drive a few meters, doesn't it?
replyBased on the record of Musk & co straight out LYING in such events (remember Solarcity?), I am very confident in saying that a large portion of what they demonstrated they have not actually solved how to fit in a real production car.
There is no amount of evidence that will ever change the minds of some of these posters.
replyThey could be in the unit when its happening and there would still be some counterclaim.
Tesla did it to themselves. They have a long history of claiming stuff and never actually delivering. Or delivering a washed down version that never makes commercial difference.
replyOnce WhistlingDiesel posts a stress test of the thrusters, I'll believe they're legit
replyHow many Cybertruck claims were true at launch?
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replyIt's not like demos are bereft of engineering. It's still incredible engineering even if they never ship a single car.
replyUnfortunately, it's impossible for us to verify what parts of the demo are 'realistic'. Did they use assisting technologies (e.g. a wire rig)? Is anything repeatable, or are the components one-and-done?
replyThe software industry has taught me how sneaky a demo can be ;). That's without considering Tesla's history of bonkers claims and sus demos (anyone else remember the bulletproof windows?).
Edit: Removed a rhetorical question about the demo. Apparently there was a live audience, so they couldn't have just made a very tiny Roadster haha.
I'd really like to understand how you think a wire rig could support the flipping in mid air and stuff; that would be some great engineering. How do you imagine that would work?
replyPinned at the front and back on a rotating axis down the centreline of the car, with the "car" itself being mostly lightweight composite with zero internal components other than the necessary air tanks and a large RC car motor to get it to roll up to the jump point? For the support structure, just put some dark matte scaffolding in the background so it stays out of shot and hidden by the light show. It wouldn't be too far off from standard wirework for movie stunts, and the compressed air could still do enough work to fool the eye. It's not like people have an innate sense for what a gas thruster powered flying car should look like anyway.
replyBut you know, that's just off the top of my head.
I don’t think that would work here where you have to support a 170 degree y axis rotation and then a 180 degree x axis rotation with a wall on one side. I think it would work for the jumping the semi demo though!
replyI wouldn't say the bulletproof window demo was "sus" - that was just a Windows-crashing-during-the-demo screwup. They didn't fake the stress test on stage :)
replyYeah, they literally said they had a live audience to address the criticism that these videos would've been AI generated.
replyThere was no wire rig either as there's nothing above the car...
replyWho are you to decide it's not allowed any criticism at all?
replyIt’s a spec sheet. It will be incredible engineering when it’s in the hands of customers.
replyIt’s incredible engineering right now.
replyA one off, incredibly staged demo is not proof that the engineering is real.
replyThis is a tech demo until it actually ships. Actual engineering requires things like cost effectiveness, reliability, and reparability that are yet to be seen.
replyIt’s not like this is the first time that Elon has overpromised and underdelivered.
It is incredible engineering and also a enormous waste of effort by a car company that seems to have stopped caring about releasing cars for the mass market.
replyEngineering is practical, not self serving entertainment. This may be classified as interesting technological study perhaps.
reply"My heart goes out to you"
replyThank you.
replyo/
replyUhhhh sure if rocket propulsion is fair game now? Seems a little overdone. Is my local DOT okay with this?
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