Electric Vehicles, Hybrids...Battery tech... Land Air and Sea. Let's See 'em.

Is the internal combustion engine doomed to history

  • Yes

    Votes: 13 25.0%

  • No

    Votes: 31 59.6%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 5 9.6%

  • Don't care

    Votes: 2 3.8%

  • ...er... what was the question again?

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Total voters
    52
From the it ain't all "sunshine and roses" dept;

TL;DR: Tesla’s fledgling robotaxi service logged five new crashes in December and January, bringing the total to 14 since launching in Austin, Texas, last summer. The crash rate? Nearly four times higher than human drivers—a serious problem for a company betting its future on autonomous vehicles. It’s raising a question the entire industry can’t yet answer: Are robotaxis actually safer than having humans behind the wheel?

What happened: These latest Tesla crashes in Austin involved “a collision with a fixed object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a crash with a bus while the Tesla was stationary, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, and two separate incidents where the Tesla backed into objects, one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a fixed object at 2 mph,” according to Electrek.

Based on the roughly 800,000 cumulative paid miles Tesla has logged, Electrek estimated that its robotaxi fleet is crashing once every 57,000 miles—nearly four times more often than Tesla says human drivers crash. “That is not a rounding error or an early-program hiccup,” says Electrek. “It is a fundamental performance gap.”

It’s not just Tesla: Zoox and Waymo have also made headlines for incidents involving their driverless vehicles. Just last month, Waymo reported that one of its vehicles struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, California, causing minor injuries (though it claimed the vehicle braked quicker than a human driver likely would have). Federal regulators are also investigating numerous instances of Waymo robotaxis illegally passing stopped school buses.
 
gggGary said:
From the it ain't all "sunshine and roses" dept;

TL;DR: Tesla’s fledgling robotaxi service logged five new crashes in December and January, bringing the total to 14 since launching in Austin, Texas, last summer. The crash rate? Nearly four times higher than human drivers—a serious problem for a company betting its future on autonomous vehicles. It’s raising a question the entire industry can’t yet answer: Are robotaxis actually safer than having humans behind the wheel?

What happened: These latest Tesla crashes in Austin involved “a collision with a fixed object at 17 mph while the vehicle was driving straight, a crash with a bus while the Tesla was stationary, a collision with a heavy truck at 4 mph, and two separate incidents where the Tesla backed into objects, one into a pole or tree at 1 mph and another into a fixed object at 2 mph,” according to Electrek.

Based on the roughly 800,000 cumulative paid miles Tesla has logged, Electrek estimated that its robotaxi fleet is crashing once every 57,000 miles—nearly four times more often than Tesla says human drivers crash. “That is not a rounding error or an early-program hiccup,” says Electrek. “It is a fundamental performance gap.”

It’s not just Tesla: Zoox and Waymo have also made headlines for incidents involving their driverless vehicles. Just last month, Waymo reported that one of its vehicles struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, California, causing minor injuries (though it claimed the vehicle braked quicker than a human driver likely would have). Federal regulators are also investigating numerous instances of Waymo robotaxis illegally passing stopped school buses.
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We are loving Waymos here in SF. The only fatality was a neighborhood cat that climbed under a wheel of a waymo. Not stopping for school busses is a real concern. Not clear yet why it is happening in Austin. They need to fix that asap.
 
"Appealing to neither traditional pickup truck buyers, who have largely rejected going to electric vehicles, nor the majority of EV enthusiasts even before Musk’s politics further soured things, fewer than 39,000 Cybertrucks were sold in 2024, and just over 20,000 found homes in 2025. The Edsel might be Ford’s most famous failure, but even it posted superior sales numbers during its relatively brief life."

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https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/0...k-prices-as-it-tries-to-move-unpainted-metal/
 
Jim said:
"Appealing to neither traditional pickup truck buyers, who have largely rejected going to electric vehicles, nor the majority of EV enthusiasts even before Musk’s politics further soured things, fewer than 39,000 Cybertrucks were sold in 2024, and just over 20,000 found homes in 2025. The Edsel might be Ford’s most famous failure, but even it posted superior sales numbers during its relatively brief life."
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For reasons that elude me, for some reason there are a bunch of them running around where I live. Arizona has a huge truck culture and also many high tech businesses, maybe it’s some kind of weird techno nerd cowboy mash up! 😆
 
I don't understand it either
A design i dont think Truck enthusiast likes
A price not getting sales
Performance and features I doubt a truck buyer are interested in

I have worked in the Auto industry back then at lot of investigations was done before designing a car and building.
many years in before unmarked cars was placed at I believe they called it " Clinics " getting feedback .about how people liked it
And working with multiple projects in parallel for choosing the one manufactured closer to deadline
I cannot se that have happened here Cowboy Hillbilly being asked how he likes the Design.

cheapest Cybertruck does without seat ventilation for the front row or seat heaters for the second row. There’s also a different console, no AC outlets in the cabin, and fewer speakers, with no active noise-cancellation system.

What is that -- seat ventilation for the front row Never heard of it not even in Managers Mercedes Benz limousines perhaps exist but selling it to
a population perhaps not so interested in big changes
What a truck customer is interested in is Known already
AI
The Ford F-150 is by far the most popular Ford truck, holding the title of best-selling vehicle in the United States for over four decades. Part of the F-Series lineup, it is widely favored for its versatility, high towing capacity (up to 13,000+ lbs), and varied, dependable, and durable, making it a leader in sales in 2025.
And that is also a factor

Reliability & Resale Value: Known for being durable, which helps it maintain high resale value
 
gggGary said:
You guys been watching Donut Labs world changing battery?
Supposed to be a big reveal and proof it is what they say Monday.
Lot's of "too good to be true" naysayers.....
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There's a Youtube sailing channel I watch (SV Delos) where they're building a big cat. They just installed all new solid state batteries in it. Don't know the brand, but apparently they're real and not unicorns after all.
 
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zrx1100 said:
I am following QuantumScape. Here in the Bay there is a lot of buzz about the company, but it is too shrouded in mystery. VW did invest into them and it is possible why Ducati is experimenting with their batteries https://www.ducati.com/ww/en/news/d...-the-v21l-prototype-and-solid-state-batteries
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Funny how shit sticks.....

Mentioning VW caused a momentary pause.....remembering they did the emissions con on their deisil engines.

Not saying they are dodgy in this, for me it reminded me they have done it before.....hence the "shit sticks"
 
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