If the most relevant way to describe someone is "influencer". Then everyone influenced by them is a moron. They are just a mega moron. It's a safety hazard any of these vehicles are allowed on the road. Let alone, driving autonomously with no actual intelligence on board.
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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Paid shill for deathmobiles.
IKR? Shades of Ralph Wiggum.
It's funny that nobody who follows influencers refers to themselves as an "influencee".
Sheeple
If the most relevant way to describe someone is “influencer”. Then everyone influenced by them is a moron.
I think Hank Green described it as a term marketers came up with. So, yeah it tracks.
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Not related to self driving, but other shitty car design.
I had a Nissan with a CVT before it was widely known they were garbage. I hit the brakes to avoid someone that ran a red, and the CVT went in to some protection mode and left me and my family stuck in the middle of the intersection for 2 entire light cycles before it'd move again.
Dealership just kept saying it's fine and it was protecting the CVT from damage after going from throttle to brake quickly. I don't give a fuck about the CVT, I care about the squishy bits inside the cabin.
After it did that again and the power windows stopped working the same day, I traded it in for a Mazda with a proper transmission. 248k miles later it's still great.
Damn shame that CVTs are so janky because it's the only non-manual transmission I'd consider. But reliable CVTs that don't do fake shifts are hard to come by.
The eCVT in my wife's Ford C-Max is an absolute dream. It's so smooth and helps the car take off much faster from a stop than my 350Z, despite having 100 less BHP. Nothing beats the feeling you get from immediate torque when you don't have to wait for the revs to build. Problem is that it also has a 75% failure rate after 100K miles. She's at 120K now and it's still going strong, so she was in the lucky 25%.
I had a Honda with a CVT and it was pretty bulletproof. Never skipped a beat.
What's the reasoning behind CVTs being the only non-manual transmissions you'd consider?
They lack the nice feel of manuals and the reliability of modern automatics. Have you tried an 8HP or 9G-Tronic? Either one will last you a long time and shift so smooth during relaxed driving that you can't tell it's going through gears.
Because the idea of keeping the engine at the ideal rev range regardless of your speed appeals to me. Gears have powerbands, CVTs are always in the sweet spot. How can you do any better than that?
My wife has a versa with a cvt. You couldn't convince me with 10 gallons of rare whiskey that it's ever in the sweet spot..
With 8 or 9 speeds, you still never really leave that ideal torque band while driving, no modern engine is so peaky that you're off peak torque after 100 rpm. The rubber banding sounds/feels weird to me too, even though it's not inherently bad.
Turbo cars in particular have very long flat torque curves.
Also, what IS the sweet spot? Just like on an auto, it's software that determines what ratio to use in a CVT. Software is not infallible. Sure they test it, but at the end of the day there's several factors to balance. There is no "ideal".
Seriously. If you're looking for a new car, don't discount them. Research them. They swap the ZF 8HP into monstrous builds now because of its ability to take shit and its ability to put power into the wheels. ZF engineers managed to make it shift better, have more gears, be more fuel efficient… and at the same time, be more reliable AND contain fewer parts than their outgoing 6 speed. The 9G-tronic is just as good if not better, but only available in Mercedes and very few other cars (Nissan 400Z, Astons). I had one and it made my 2 liter 143kW diesel feel faster than my current remapped 3 liter diesel around 200ish kW.
For my next automotive mishap, I'm considering either the ZF or Aisin 8 speed mated to a V8. Haven't tried the newer Aisin box yet, but the 6 speed in my first gen Cayenne S was the most solid part of the car lol. I've got two terrible ideas and one great idea lined up but since the great idea is a Lexus, it means twice the fuel consumption and less comfort than the horrible ideas. The Lexy is also available as a hybrid with CVT and more power but everyone said its the worse car despite being way more expensive than the 8 speed auto non-hybrid
Gears have powerbands, CVTs are always in the sweet spot.
Isn't that basically true of automatics with 8+ gears, too?
Yeah, that reads like someone who hasn't experienced a nice modern automatic. ZF transmissions are magic, smooth when cruising and then shift hard like a DCT when you push them. Some even work with launch modes and they slip the clutches to eek out that extra performance
Nothing beats a great manual though!
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It didn't just "Run a red light", it downright attempted a left turn in a lane meant to drive straight through. They're just lucky that the incoming traffic was stopped when it happened or they might have been t-boned.
It didn’t “run a red light”. In the video, the lights were green when it entered the intersection.
But yeah, it should not have tried to make that turn from that lane.
How come nobody honk? Are they used to this nonsense already?
What exactly does honking accomplish though?
Waking up the safety operator perhaps.
While the person honking probably doesn't intend it that way, it gives a warning to others who can't see it yet to be careful, because something unusual is happening.
I'll concede that you bring up the point of honking overall, but in the case of this Jonny cab how would honking help?
I know but in my area people will be pissed and be honking not that I agree but I’m surprised how calm people are with this nonsense of being live beta tester.
That sounds more life threatening than impressive.
If a death threat doesn't leave an impression, what will?
Impressive in the most literal sense. Indeed.
A truck ran over me
It left an impression
Impressively life threatening
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Thanks to whoever wrote "raises the question" instead of the commonly used yet incorrect "begs the question".
I'm curious about this distinction. What's the difference between "raises" and "begs"?
"Begging the Question" is a logical fallacy that's completely different than a thing raising a question.
Raising a question means what you think it does. Bringing up a question which is a natural consequence or follow-up to a previously stated point.
The original meaning of begging the question is quite different and is a form of circular argument where the premise of an argument already assumes its conclusion is correct.
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I find it impressive that nobody honked.
Probably because robotaxi is written on the side of it. Clearly a warning to other drivers, to avoid accidents.
It's like having that "learner" sign most countries have on cars for people learning to drive.
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It is impressive how bad it is.
They also really need additional sensors. Elon is keep saying that self driving cars only need cameras. But cameras can be blinded or also make mistakes. Hence good self driving cars should atleast have sonar.
As a RADAR guy I have to say they need RADAR, but I might be biased. I suppose LIDAR would be nice too. There's something called sensor fusion where you combine the measurements of different sensors, ideally using different technologies to get better measurements.
WhyNotBoth.gif
And radar is dirt cheap. Toss a radar module (or two!) under the hood, watch as your cars stop plowing into stuff in the frontal plane of movement. It's automation so simple that even Hyundai gets it right.
And radar is dirt cheap.
Even by the middle of WWII, radar had been made so cheap that they (the US at least) were putting radar devices into artillery shells. The idea that 80+ years later radar is cost-prohibitive for fucking cars is ludicrous.
My helmet has a radar in it. Like, why the fuck not, toss two in there
Fun fact: horseshoe crabs have like nine different types of eyes. Even that tail is one big photoreceptor. Sensor fusion is new technology - it's only been around for 400 million years.
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Beta testing on the public roads is always a good idea. Privatize the profits and socialize the road hazards and deaths.
Impressive, I have always wanted to die in a car accident thanks Tesla!
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