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Tesla slashes vehicle and self-driving-ish software prices as shares plummet
(www.theregister.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I'm expecting the company to go out of business and all of the cars to just brick.
Might be a good move to figure out how to hack the software and/or reclaim the batteries for resale, might be kinda lucrative.
On the other hand, if they do brick overnight it might be dangerous, and I hope Tesla demonstrates some responsibility to the lives and safety of their consumers. I don't expect them to, but I hope so.
Even if they don't fail, knowing how to hack them, how to replace the Tesla computer with your own that functions without Tesla approval, how to make the car function without self driving that might lock up the tires at highway speeds... These are valuable skills to have.
I don't trust the structural enough to use even if cheap, based on everything else. I could see breaking it down and using specific parts in a custom build using a real car as a base though.
They are "too big to fail now". If they pop now, the ruins will be bought quickly. The car won't be allowed to brick. But it is good to highlight the issue that modern car need to be independ of the existence of manufacturers servers. I'd go further and regulate that it must be documented protocols and you must able to change the servers used if you choose.
Same with any computer, if you don't have admin, you don't own it.
That's a good point, it's just as likely (to my cynical mind) that the U.S. govt would just bail them out to the tune of hundreds of billions
Someone will step in and pick up the ashes. Question is will it be a company or the government.
How would non-American consumers feel about the US government controlling there cars? Not sure all American consumers would be happy with that either. Why it's OK for a company to have that power over your car is another issue....
I wouldn't think the government itself would intervene. But possibly a government assigned entity so all those owners aren't left high and dry.
I think even without government sweeteners there would be plenty of buyers.
I agree that Tesla will not be able to maintain their current position, but currently Tesla is one of the most profitable car companies in the world. So chances they'll go out of business anytime soon are very slim.
That said I think they are currently about at their height, with a peek market recognition advantage in EV, earned from their first models where everybody else only made tiny lame city EVs with limited range. Now the competition is catching up and even sometimes surpassing Tesla, and the EV market is in a slump. This is a very different situation for Musk and Tesla to handle, and time will show how well they do that.