Waymo, the world’s most famous robotaxi company, launched in San Francisco in 2023 and it may now have more than a fifth of the city’s ride-share market. But there are still flaws that need to be ironed out before autonomous taxis dominate the market https://t.co/w4IE2ejt6B ...

Group 1 - Tesla's Board Chair Robyn Denholm defended CEO Elon Musk's $1 trillion compensation package, emphasizing its role in motivating unique performance despite declining sales and profits [1][2] - The compensation package is tied to ambitious performance targets, including deploying one million autonomous taxis and robots, and increasing Tesla's market value to $8.5 trillion [2][3] - Denholm highlighted that the focus should be on Musk's voting influence for future growth rather than the monetary aspect of the compensation [3] Group 2 - Tesla faces significant performance challenges, needing to increase profits by 24 times and maintain annual vehicle sales of 1.2 million until 2035, while currently lagging behind competitors like BYD and Geely [3] - Political opposition to Musk's compensation has emerged, with figures like Senator Bernie Sanders and New Mexico State Treasurer Laura Montoya criticizing the package as excessive [4] - Despite concerns over board independence, Denholm asserted that the special committee overseeing the compensation included independent members, and Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas viewed the deal favorably for Tesla shareholders [5] Group 3 - Tesla's stock closed at $395.94, reflecting a 7.36% increase for the day, with strong momentum and growth scores indicating a positive price trend [6]

Robotaxi Service Rollout & Expansion - Tesla's Robotaxi service is currently operating in a geofenced area of approximately 35 square miles, aligning with Waymo's initial rollout strategy [2] - The company aims for rapid expansion, including highways, leveraging its technology [2] - Tesla's approach involves commodity cars costing around $35 thousand to build, utilizing vision-only technology and end-to-end neural networks, differing from Waymo's expensive bespoke vehicles costing around $150 thousand [5] - The company believes its technology allows for faster national expansion compared to Waymo, potentially by an order of magnitude or more [5][7] Safety & Technology - Tesla's Robotaxis have safety monitors in the front passenger seat with kill switch access, similar to Waymo's initial rollout approach [3] - The company claims Robotaxis are at least as safe as good human drivers, with fast reaction times and smooth driving [4] - Tesla uses vision-only technology for safety and performance reasons, running on end-to-end neural networks, unlike Waymo's heuristic software [5] - The company uses Google Maps data, eliminating the need for fine-grained mapping required by Waymo [5] Media Perception - There is a perceived disconnect between user experiences and media reporting on Tesla's Robotaxi service [1] - Some media outlets are portraying the Robotaxis as not fully autonomous and potentially dangerous [3][4][6] - The author suggests broadcast media may have a bias against Tesla [7]