Tesla sets autonomous driving event

• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA +2.8%) plans to host an investor meeting on April 19 at its headquarters in Palo Alto to provide a "deep dive" into the company's self-driving technology development.
• Execs will cover development of Tesla's autonomous driving software and hardware, including the FSD (full self driving) computer. The FSD computer is currently in production with an aim to enable full autonomous driving via future over-the-air software updates.
• Tesla says investors will be able to take test drives to experience the Autopilot software first-hand, including features and functionality that are under active development.
• Presenters will include Elon Musk, Stuart Bowers (VP of Engineering), Pete Bannon (VP of Hardware Engineering) and Andrei Karpathy (Senior Director of AI)
• Source: Press Release

Comments

[smurf]

Another distraction attempting to deflect attention from continuing Piss Poor Performance

[Alexander the Great II]

First comment was about the production numbers and not about the story headline Autonomous driving vehicles. Remove the comment? Naw keep it.

It is too obvious to me that people commenting here are simply trying to find some reason to trash Tesla. It was a rough 1st Qtr, but they are now ramping up the volume to sell in China and the EU the Model 3. Doesn't matter what Elon does, you still hate him.

[User 47429802]

"Doesn't matter what Elon does, you still hate him."

$420 funding secured. He makes it easy.

"It was a rough 1st Qtr, but they are now ramping up the volume to sell in China and the EU the Model 3."

Here's your "ramp."
2018Q4, 61,394/13 = 4722.63 Model 3 per week.
2019Q1, 62,950/13 = 4842.31 Model 3 per week.

[smurf]

@West Gray Grass Cutting

You Tesla lemmings remind me of the LINE/LNCO crowd a few years ago who, as the company was tanking, continued to blame "The Shorts". Only these TSLA fans are on steroids by comparison.

[Alexander the Great II]

@smurf ,

the lemmings suicide myth is just that...a myth.

www.adfg.alaska.gov/...

If you got the State of Alaska Fish and Game Department calling it a myth, then it is a myth.

I am not blaming anything about the stock price on anyone but....E-long. Buck stops with him. Yeah he was in court. With a smirk on his face and why you may ask? He knows it is all garbage the SEC action.

Why do I stick with him?

Yeah autonomous vehicles will be happening. And Tesla has the lead and those of us who are long know that. Every Tesla vehicle sold today has cameras that are tracking the movements of the vehicle even if it is not using Autopilot. That info is beamed up to the Enterprise ( Palo Alto ) and Spock ( JB Strauble) is working with Kirk ( Musk) to iron out the details. Millions and millions of miles are beamed up to the Enterprise and none of the other competing projects have that much data.

and who used that expression Millions and millions or was is billions and billions?

en.wikipedia.org/...

[tdswim]

Is it over yet? I don't want to have to buy those shares back, but I don't want to get too greedy. I'd cover at $25.

[see.clay]

Imagine Tesla in a cash crunch and good ole dairy queen dip cone uncle warren, reported to be ready to pull the trigger on a big deal, gets some ridiculous deal to further fund it, like GS in 2008. To make it even more ridiculous, Trump then says you know what - electric vehicles are the future, how about a 10k tax cut and no sales tax or state registration ever, yet another battle? Just a weird thought I had, but seems plausible in this current "easy money" environment.

[kitsinu]

ir.tesla.com/...
Tesla Q1 2019 Vehicle Production & Deliveries
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the first quarter, we produced approximately 77,100 total vehicles, consisting of 62,950 Model 3 and 14,150 Model S and X.

Deliveries were approximately 63,000 vehicles, which was 110% more than the same quarter last year, but 31% less than last quarter. This included approximately 50,900 Model 3 and 12,100 Model S and X.

Due to a massive increase in deliveries in Europe and China, which at times exceeded 5x that of prior peak delivery levels, and many challenges encountered for the first time, we had only delivered half of the entire quarter’s numbers by March 21, ten days before end of quarter. This caused a large number of vehicle deliveries to shift to the second quarter. At the end of the first quarter, approximately 10,600 vehicles were in transit to customers globally.

[User 48055652]

An absolute fiasco. Please...someone bring up the Bloomberg Tracker and the number of VINs

[User 47429802]

"Q1 deliveries will fall short, but the number of vehicles in transit will be a record high. This sets the stage for losses in Q1 as a one-off, one time charge quarter to set up Q2 for profits again. The in-transit number pumps the April deliveries making the bulls go crazy with joy, and the FIT credit decrease makes June also a big month." - User 47429802, March 18, 2019.

Not the only one to read the writing on the wall. Now, time for the bulls to fulfill their role and make excuses, predict the massive Q2.

[Randy Carlson]

So, it looks like Tesla produced ~14,100 more vehicles than it sold. Presumably a fair part of those are filling the pipelines to Europe and China, but not all of the 10,600 vehicles in transit will represent increased 'in-transit' inventory as there surely were at least some in-transit cars end of 4Q18. On the other hand, Tesla was selling as much production as they had into the US market in 4Q18, so maybe most to the 10,600 represent cars on ships heading abroad.

Even so, it suggests that there are 4,000+ cars 'sitting around' waiting for either a customer or a spot on a boat to Europe or China... This isn't too terrible a thing - less than a week's production.

Something the shorts might want to contemplate a bit more closely is the fact that Tesla's 1Q19 sales were more than double 1Q18 sales - that is more than double the same quarter sales from last year. And, this is in spite of the severe pull of sales from 1Q19 into 4Q18 due to the step-down in the FIT credit.

If Tesla continues at this pace - more than doubling each quarter's sales over same quarter last year, 2019 sales would look headed toward 400k units.

Timing of the China GigaFactory could make a huge difference here. If China comes online a couple of months, or even a whole quarter early, Tesla might bust 400k units handily... On the other hand, if China manufacturing is a no-show, Fremont may be hard pressed to make 400k units over the year...

[highwater888]

5pm in CA. Where are the Q1 delivery numbers?

[Rick Ballard]

I waver between simple incompetence (a Musk/Tesla trademark) exacerbated by the departure of everyone who knew how to jiggle the homebrew ERP system without a complete crash and holding numbers as a distraction from the contempt hearing tomorrow re the Musk/Tesla stock fraud settlement.

We should never underestimate Musk's ability to score another own goal as he fumbles and stumbles through the drug addled haze in which he exists.

[User 48055652]

They have arrived and they are abysmal.

[Vangel]

I wonder if Musk can show Tesla owners how to get out of their cars when they wind up being trapped in the vehicle.

"Musician Sheryl Crow took to Twitter today to inform the world that her Tesla was "stuck in a parking lot" and that its screen had "gone black". She said the "reset" feature wasn't working and speculated as to whether or not she could return her vehicle and get her money back. "
www.zerohedge.com/...

"People become Tesla skeptics in many different ways. Some are investors that take a hard look at the company's financials. Others witness Tesla accidents or wind up getting a glimpse into the company by working there.

And some - like celebrity jeweler Ben Baller - wind up locked in their Tesla vehicles, trapped, with no way to get out. "
www.zerohedge.com/...

[Bay Area Kid]

Vangel, a quick perusal of the comments on Sheryl Crow's tweet produced this response from her:

"Also, for the haters: I love my @Tesla and have very few problems. I got the basic model, nothing overly fancy, and it was cheaper than my minivan!"

[User 48055652]

Are you having trouble interpreting “full”?

[johnafish]

Musk has already told us what he thinks FULL SELF DRIVING means, he said "FSD is already available on highway" referring to the DRIVE ON NAVIGATION function of autopilot.

So in Musk's view FSD is a level 2 system requiring continuous driver monitoring and driver fallback.

That's not my definition, it would need to be Level 4 to be called SELF DRIVING and Level 5 to be FULL SELF DRIVING.

[User 49822328]

To me FSD starts at hands-off. There are plenty of fully-automated systems that require a human to intervene when something unexpected happens. I don't see why cars are the exception to this.

[Stilldazed]

@User 49822328,

Words mean something and there is a reason that the accepted meaning of Full Self Drive means level 5.

[User 49822328]

"Full Self Driving" is a buzz term for one of Tesla's systems, like "Autopilot". The SAE level definitions don't use "Full Self Driving".

[User 48055652]

This is great news if Elon is still CEO. Every mention of the words Full Self Driving, which implies Level 5 autonomy, is an act of deliberate fraud. The event could eventually result in dozens of charges.

[User 49822328]

Level 2 is hands-off driving. Level 3 is eye's off. Level 4 is no thought required. Level 5 is no steering wheel.

[User 48055652]

So you are interpreting “Full” as “Partial”?

[User 49822328]

I'm interpreting "full" as a car that can reach it's destination under normal driving conditions without the driver holding the steering-wheel.

[TheFatDwarf]

Until now, Tesla has only talked about "feature complete" FSD. As always, this term only serves to confuse people rather than explain anything.

For example, traffic sign recognition definitely is neccessary for FSD. However, even today there are lots of cars that are able to recognize a speed limit sign and then issue a warning to the driver if he is speeding. This is still a Level 2 feature and nothing that takes a car to Level 4 or 5.

The real difference between Level 2 and Level 4 or 5 is self-awareness of the car. A car must understand when it is no longer able to handle a situation, and, if that is the case, it will transfer the control back to the driver (L4) or stop the car in a safe way (L5).

Thus the real litmus test for FSD is that
a.) Tesla assumes full responsibility for a car in FSD mode. So far, they always put the responsibility on the driver and have never accepted any responsibility for what their "autopilot" does.
b.) a car which is brought into an unsafe situation knows that it can no longer handle the situation and acts accordingly as described above. So far, no Tesla has ever given up in any situation, i.e. no "autopilot" knows its boundaries.

I pretty much doubt that Tesla will announce a.) or demo b.) during that investor meeting.

[johnafish]

@TheFatDwarf

"A car must understand when it is no longer able to handle a situation, and, if that is the case, it will transfer the control back to the driver (L4) or stop the car in a safe way (L5)."

No, the driver fallback is an SAE level 1/2/3 feature, in level 4/5 the car needs to be safe without driver intervention.

[Andreas Hopf]

"I pretty much doubt that Tesla will announce a.) or demo b.) during that investor meeting."

Tesla will fake it, like in 2016, when the car automagically jumped into a parking spot.

Tesla would never dare demonstrating their solution in Milan, Stockholm or Prague.

It's a hoax.

[User 49822328]

The current Tesla auto-pilot alerts you whenever you take your hands off of the steering wheel. Tesla's current level would be level 1. If the announcement is worth anything, you'd expect level 2, where the driver could reasonably take their hands off the wheel.

[JCCIII]

I look forward to seeing how far Tesla has advanced on FSD. I expect the test drives to be highly controlled by Tesla. Hopefully, the test drives will not be so constrained that they essentially show nothing meaningful concerning the car's autonomous capabilities.

[DrWolff]

Any bears who screamed "competition" want to tell me why in Q1 2019 NON Tesla EV sales are DROPPING YoY?

Any Bears want to show me which ICE maker outside of China is making EV's faster then their ICE fleet is being munched?
-the ICE munching is increasing at 60% YoY avg for the last 4 years.

- 3.5 million EV sales this year is becoming noticeably annoying where just 2 years ago 1.2 milion was....cute.

- by 2021 even at a slowing to 50% growth (which i don't see) we're talking 10% of all sales EV AKA a 10% loss in ICE sales and the OEM's unable to throw propoganda band aids at the math showing imminent collapse LONG before 2030.

So my question to bears...which legacy company is growing their EV fleet as fast as their ICE sales are dropping? Will they maintain the 50-60% growth necessary to retain market share?

This disruption speed is finally beginning to hit home to the riders on the "UNSINKABLE" titanics. They are just companies...and in less then 10 years most of them will be on the bottom.

[User 47429802]

"Any bears who screamed "competition" want to tell me why in Q1 2019 NON Tesla EV sales are DROPPING YoY?"

There is strong consensus that Tesla sales, the Model S and Model X, which were the only two models sold in 2018Q1, are going to show dropping sales "YoY" once Tesla releases delivery numbers.

[User 47429802]

"Any bears who screamed "competition" want to tell me why in Q1 2019 NON Tesla EV sales are DROPPING YoY?"

"- 3.5 million EV sales this year is becoming noticeably annoying where just 2 years ago 1.2 milion was....cute."

You claim all other EV sales are dropping in the same post that claims 2.3 million more sales this year than two years ago, yet Tesla can't produce enough for both things to be true.

[highwater888]

In any discussion of FSD, it should be remembered that technical capability -when achieved- is only the first obstacle to be overcome: legal & regulatory issues, insurance risks and even public acceptance will present additional barriers that may take years to resolve. The point is that FSD is an extremely remote revenue source for any automaker. Tesla’s practice of using the promise of FSD as a promotional hook in its marketing is therefore sketchy in two ways: first, they don’t have FSD and won’t have it any time soon and second, even when FSD is achieved there will remain barriers to its ability to add revenue to the bottom line.

[Calculus]

There are no regulatory burdens at the moment given what is currently extant on US and Canadian Highways. Also in the USA there is the alternative of not having a vehicle in the first place...so the burden for the oem in North America is surprisingly high in point of fact. I think owning a bulldozer and using that as your primary mover should be safe tho..

[Dividend Income Investor]

"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends !"

[julianbook]

Nobody can deny that FSD is the greatest human advance since tulips.

[fer investor]

we don't know but are assuming a total delivery fig in the 64-67k range

What if the sales are good? Do you want to release that prior to the contempt hearing or after?

Same question for what if the figures are bad or in line with the expectation? before or after?

[Maxed Out Mama]

@fer investor

From a publicity perspective, the ideal time would be to release tomorrow before market opening. That way the Tesla story is about the numbers rather than a bunch of stuff about the hearing.

There's a limited amount of time that any news show can devote to any one topic, and you'd rather have people talking about the production numbers than a bunch of stuff about SEC problems.

[Andreas Hopf]

Rise and shine $TSLA, it's already 4th April in the east of Contra-California ; )

Europe regs firmed up and with InsideEVs (11,000 3, 2,725 S, 2,425 X) and Dailykanban (6,780 3, 1,000 S, 1,000 X) there are a paltry

51,544 3
6,827 S
7,053 X

total Q1 sales.

Tesla's own figures?

[cparmerlee]

Just another case of crass media manipulation. When the numbers are good, Tesla puts them out quickly. This time, they are withholding the numbers and instead pumping the bogus story that Tesla is taking over Europe. What are they hiding?

The SEC should add this to their bill of particulars.

[dodanimal]

Another baseless stock pump. Q1 numbers must be bad.

[Lastmile16]

Enjoy the short squeeze.

[User 48055652]

Fraudulent short squeeze threats are so 2018. Is Elon planning a 420 buyout tweet on the morning of his contempt hearing? Bold

[cparmerlee]

@ATB "Enjoy the short squeeze."

We can all set our watches to that post. The stock drops $30 and some clown pops up with "short squeeze." The time is now ...

[ckarabin]

How is Tesla doing on getting the successfully driven FSD miles under its belt that it would need to get a government approval.

[ubn]

Hello Tesla autonomous driving. It is continuously becoming smarter.

Bye Bye Waymo experimental fantasy of $50B valuation. Waymo is not in production, too expensive and does not work.

[User 828881]

@ubn LOL sure tell that to Ben Baller or Sheryl Crow - great stuff

[ubn]

@TheBoringAnalyst
I asked Ben and Sheryl to get Waymo but they said that no one is selling that and called it experimental bs. I giggled.

[User 828881]

@ubn I asked Sheryl and Ben to pick me up but Ben was locked in his car and Sheryl's car bricked...

[russclehman]

Gotta get that capital raise somehow. Notice this isn’t a driving event, like driving cross country.

[fer investor]

when are they going to put Sir Tweetsalot in the back seat with his hands cuffed behind him and send one out to fsd through rush hour from ferment to spark Nevada ?

[Andreas Hopf]

"Notice this isn’t a driving event, like driving cross country."

It'll drive the share price though.

[Roger Knights]

@Andreas Hopf
"It'll drive the share price though."

Maybe it's already done so—an earlier rumor of what's been announced, I mean. (Maybe Musk let some of the big boys know of this event ahead of time.) Note how TSLA declined a bit today after (?) the news came out. After-hours trading is flat.