alt Hacker NewsTesla Roadster
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There is so much wealth that brilliant engineers spend time building things nobody needs, only to impress.
I”m not going to get into Musk himself. Nor will I get into the artistic absurdity that a moder supercar represents. But I will speak for the hackers amongst us:
The problem with the demo is that it was vapourware. Period, full stop. It is not the car they are selling to us, and they haven't even begun making them. I am personally not a fan of pure concept products that exist only to polish the company’s crown.
Steve Jobs said that "Real artists ship," because the act of shipping is the act of making the incredibly difficult and important decisions that manage the enormous number of constraints that go into the actual product.
If people like concept cars that don't have to actually work or meet a specific price point, fine. It is entertainment, nothing wrong with that. But I am not and will not be impressed until, like Apple, the thing they show on stage is so far along that you can be expected to buy one within weeks, not years.
I am not telling anyone how to judge this. But by my very old-school standards, vapourware sucks.
Original roadster is one of the best looking car designs for my taste. This... subdivision modifier over the Cybertruck.
How is that impressive as a demo? It would be impressive if it's actually a working, mass producible car, but in terms of an demo it's obviously something that is possible in today's world ..
I bet this goes so hard if you are ten years old.
This is not a serious car. It's a project for Tesla and SpaceX engineers to do something crazy. I am sure they had a ton of fun with it.
I would put it in the same class as the McMurtry Spéirling. Let's just see how far we can push a car if there is no concern for cost or maintenance.
I think if this ever makes it to production (doubtful) it will be a let down like the Cybertruck.
Credit where it's due: this car is both awesome and insane.
Haggerty has a good video with more details about the engineering. [1]
aka a $245,000 loan to tesla with no interest for 10 years
It’s a remote controlled CO2 canister on wheels with a skin that looks like a car. It’s a stupid publicity “stunt”. Har har Elon.
Apart from the supercar aspirational enthusiasts and the usual inspiration of innovation with concept cars give, I'm thinking of other audiences for this product. What's the actual future of this?
Ask yourself who would see the benefit of a vehicle that can jump over obstacles, other dangers or other cars?
Obstacles including barricades, flooded roads, tank traps, rivers, fences and burning cars. Dangers might include IEDs, mines, destroyed bridges, barbed wire, stinger strips, active munitions being fired at it, etc.
Even without such dangers, jumping over moving cars would be useful in pursuits where getting in front of a target gives an advantage.
And the extra mobility would be useful in humanitarian and disaster applications where getting to and from those in need in a timely fashion may save lives.
Genuinely impressed, incredible demo
Been a while since I was impressed with a tech presentation. I was waiting for a clear case of AI assisted movement ( though I personally expected to see it for the first time in a military chopper ).
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Side note, as I was looking for the right stream, youtube gave me a link to a different deep fake 'Musk' stream where he extolled virtues of sending him money ( https://roadster-tesla.com/#participate ). Everything has changed man. I am sure the scammer actually got some people.
I watched the ~16 minute presentation on YouTube and it was as if Elon and the two other guys presenting were doing a skit at a talent show. They seemed extremely unprepared. Maybe they were intentionally trying to come across as off the cuff, but it felt unnatural and cringey. Together they have the charisma of a paper clip. These guys are so full of themselves that it’s difficult to appreciate whatever accomplishment this may or may not be. And, of course, no way it will be street legal with air thrusters. What a complete joke.
Some cars, if you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it.
Other cars, if you have to ask where the government will allow you to drive it, you can't afford it.
This is concerning, "Delivery. You understand that Roadster isstill under development at the time you entered into this Agreement and so we cannot guarantee when your vehicle will actually be delivered or if it will be delivered.".
It's pretty cool that someone finally replicated the turbo boost jump function that K.I.T.T. had. Imagine having the boosters to avoid head on collision at 100km/h.
This gets more attention than it deserves.
As Doug DeMuro would say, this is a “rich guy go fast” car.
Is it going to be fun and engaging to drive? Absolutely not. It doesn’t even have a steering wheel.
Finally, a vehicle that’s perfect for the CEO in your life who wants to upload his brain to a data center powered by the body heat of his employees hooked up to the pods from The Matrix.
Thrusters pointed straight back will be illegal on public roads and racetracks, as they'd throw debris at people and cars behind them. However, pointing them upward and forward could give them a chance of being legal and functional, especially for braking.
Gemini 4 Argon: https://x.com/LechMazur/status/2111255403216384046 GPT-6 Pro: https://x.com/LechMazur/status/2111255536666644932 Opus 5.5: https://x.com/LechMazur/status/2111258566539493402
All currently living acme coyotes will buy this.
I genuinely didn't believe they'd ever do more than use cold gas thrusters for a lame boost effect, if at all. Happy to admit I was wrong, that was cool.
(still not buying a tesla thooughbeit)
This is not a flying car. It's a falling car. It's good at falling though.
Does gyroscopic crash aversion and gentle downward deceleration count as flight? I would think not, otherwise we'd say a parachute is capable of flight.
I've yet to see this thing fly.
Where's that 30k Tesla he promised. That would be a lot more useful right now, but stupid gimmicks get more attention.
So the v2 that people put money down on 9 years ago has been thrown away. Hopefully they'll be able to easily get their money back, ideally with interest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(second_generat...
I bet it could clear the shark enclosure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark)
I suspect it "actually flies" much the same way the cybertruck is bullet proof and has an ultra hard stainless steel exoskeleton, in that it doesn't. This seems like smoke and mirrors conman shit pumped up to 11.
Maybe the most useless feature for a car. I'd imagine you need some commercial performance license to actually own this feature.
is it me or does it just look ugly?, was expecting the original roadster looks...
It looks like a DeLorean to me. Someone needs to do an AI mashup taking Back to the Future and replacing the car with this.
We don't do politics here on HN, but I wouldn't touch a needle made by one of the companies of this douchebag. I'm talking here as a consumer who might end up on the wrong side of this guy's political ambitions.
I made a game so you can land your tesla https://tesla.mcnaveen.com
Meanwhile, Renault makes small and useful cars being sold more in France, for a fraction of Tesla's valuation.
Others have questioned the utility of this.
hparadiz said it would be much more impressive if they had driven it off a cliff.
It occurs to me that's a much more interesting use case -- to the extent that the jump tech is functional and can recharge itself in a reasonable time frame (?), it would be much more useful in an off-road vehicle. Tree trunk in your way? Don't even bother to slow down -- in fact, speed up -- and jump that thing. Likewise for gullies and other obstacles, even relatively small cliffs, and rivers.
> It challenges the limits of design, engineering and physics to deliver an expertly crafted extra-terrestrial vehicle.
closed tab. thanks.
This video, like the one catching the rocket with chopsticks, is so ridiculously cool even on the 20:th rewatch.
Like many times in the past with Elons smoke and mirrors, this will either never be delivered or will be completely watered down version of the marketed version.
>Tinted glass windows are designed to mimic the copper coating that gives spacesuit visors their gold radiance.
Aren't spacesuit visors actually gold plated, not copper?
This is an incredible feat of engineering. I have my doubts of the 2028 mass production timeline, but I am quite amazed.
Hagerty has an interview with a Tesla exec that was shot before the release. Answers a lot of the questions people have here. Really interesting https://youtu.be/22rvpUecLts?is=STsYWoVcb4W-2t4D
One interesting idea for this technology is to prevent accidents. Imagine you are about to get hit head-on by a drunk driver. If only you had a set of thrusters to lift your car at the last second. So basically use this a crash collision avoidance "before" your airbag has to go off.
I worked at Tesla when they announced the Roadster 2 and said they’d start production. That never happened. Funny to see everyone eat this up, let’s see when or if they deliver.
If you can afford something this ridiculous, then IMO you aren't being taxed enough.
Wondering how loud this would be if you were in the driver's seat or, worse, standing nearby.
Imagine if he had just come out to introduce a common sense minivan, shipping in 2027 and lower cost than the Sienna and Odyssey. There are nearly half a million minivans sold every year, I wonder if Tesla could quickly take 30% of that market with regular Tesla look (not cyber punk style).
What happened to the last one they announced? Is it just gone? are the preorders carried over?
If this turns out to be real, I am happy purely on the basis of innovation.
This is not and will probably never be practical, but it's something that's never really been done before, and for that alone I kinda like it.
It boggles my mind that people talk about this as if it is real. It is not real. It is a marketing gimmick. Are we in a 90’s American elementary school talking about WWE wrestling, or are we tech-bro’s discussing “Elon” (first name intended)? Or is there no difference at all between the two, in terms of discernment of and interest in truth?
Cool marketing gimmick. The suction is cool though, let’s see how it will do on the track. Basically your own Brabham BT46, very cool