Tesla Highly Ranked in Vision, Products and Trajectory, but Other Categories Take a Hit

Tesla's ranking according to Axios in several categories when compared to others

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Tesla took a significant dip in this year's Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings, dropping from number 12 to number 62, which places the company in the "Good" category. This significant dip comes amidst a shifting landscape for the EV industry, Elon Musk's Twitter takeover, and concerns over the CEO's focus. Before we go too far, it's important to note that the information for this study was compiled from March 13 to 28.

The Axios Harris Poll is a respected annual survey that measures the reputations of America's most visible brands. This year, the survey compiled the opinions of 16,310 Americans. Respondents were asked to rate the companies that, in their opinion, stand out for having the best and worst reputations today.

Despite the drop, Tesla did achieve "Excellent" scores in the trajectory, vision, and products and services categories, signifying a strong appreciation for the company's innovations and future-focused mindset. However, it received "Fair" marks in trust, character, and citizenship.

Musk's Twitter Takeover and the Impact on Tesla

This decline coincides with Tesla CEO Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. According to Axios' Sara Fischer, the shift in reputation could be attributed to several factors related to Musk's decision. First, the stock dump necessary for the Twitter acquisition raised eyebrows. Second, shareholders have accused Musk of neglecting Tesla, calling for him to appoint a new CEO for Twitter to refocus his attention on the EV manufacturer.

Again, important to note that the situation has already changed. Musk has appointed Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO. Musk also rebuffed rumors that he would leave Tesla, stating that the new Twitter CEO will allow him to spend more time at Tesla.

Tesla's Continued Strength in Innovation Amidst Challenges

Furthermore, Tesla's status as the unrivaled trailblazer in the EV field is being increasingly challenged. Major traditional automakers, like Ford, Honda, and Toyota, have begun to invest heavily in electric vehicles, chipping away at Tesla's "shiny new object" status. As a result, these automakers have surpassed Tesla in this year's reputation rankings, with Ford at number 32, Honda at 13, and Toyota landing a coveted spot at number 6.

But as Axios and the 16,000 respondents fail to realize, Tesla is more than the king of EVs. Solar continues to grow in popularity, and Tesla is a major player in that space, and let's not forget Optimus. The company has fundamentally shifted the paradigm of what's possible in personal transportation. Tesla's innovative spirit remains its core strength, evidenced by its high scores in trajectory and vision.

Tesla's reputation has seen a hiccup in this year's Axios Harris Poll. While the Twitter takeover and concerns over Musk's dual CEO role have contributed to this decline, the competition from traditional automakers embracing EV technology should not be overlooked. As the industry evolves, Tesla must strategize to maintain its influential role and polish its public image to climb back up in future reputation rankings.

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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

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Is Tesla Close to Licensing FSD? GM Quits Cruise, BMW Praises Tesla

Not a Tesla App

In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.

GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.

End of Cruise

GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.

Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.

Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019. 

Competition is Killer

Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.

Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.

GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy

As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.

NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.

“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2024

With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.

In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection. 

The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.

Others Impressed - Licensing FSD

Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next. 

BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!

Not a Tesla App

It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.

There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.

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