>starts taking customer cash for "Full Self Driving" in October 2016
>expects training infrastructure to be set up by mid-2021

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1296148766714560512

I really go out of my way not to throw the "f word" around casually, but either "Full Self Driving" is a conscious fraud or it's a well-intentioned but profoundly bumbling exercise in fake-it-till-you-make-it.

In either case, not something you want to trust your life to.

The legitimate AV developer space has learned some tough, sobering lessons over the last couple of years about the price to be paid for overhyping. Musk's decision to just keep doubling down on hype will eventually lead to the same lessons, at a previously unimaginable scale.

Remember: Elizabeth Holmes maintains that she just needed more time to develop the capabilities she'd been promising for years. That excuse won't keep "Full Self-Driving" on the right side of history, and IMO we've reached the point where intent is largely irrelevant.

We passed that point in November 2019, when three-year leases made when FSD was announced began to expire. People bought something and got nothing. That's what differentiates this from every other slipped AV-related deadline: Tesla took cash from consumers.

This thread, like all my tweets, represents my personal views alone. As someone who does work for a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about AVs, seeing someone so deeply abuse the public's understanding of this vital tech for personal gain is incredibly saddening.

I should add that "Dojo" timing isn't the whole issue. The fact that FSD is supposed to be "feature complete" this year is also damning evidence that it will be a ridiculously long time before you can trust your life to it. Autonomy is 1% "features" and 99% robustness/reliability

Also, I'm not interested in "debating" this. All the evidence points to one inescapable conclusion: Tesla is starting over, more or less from scratch, four years and numerous blown deadlines after taking customer cash for FSD. You can accept that reality or not, I don't care.