"I just can't see the front of the car".
Oh yeah, this will work out great.
Elon designed it himself, didn't he?
- No door handles, press a button and pull the metal railing to open the door
- No rear-view mirror, use the console to see what's behind you
- Your driving speed is no longer in front of the steering wheel, it's in the console
- Your glove box doesn't have a manual latch, dig into settings to open the glove box
- The gear shifter is in the console or above you
Seems like Elon went full contrarian when designing the car.
> Oh yeah, this will work out great.
It seems to me that the Cybertruck has less of a blind spot in front of the hood than F-150. The "not seeing the front" is actually hinting at this, it's below the field of vision. The hood angles down agressively vs. huge
Large trucks/SUVs are infamous for poor pedestrian visibility right in front.
Edit: this graphic (https://cdn.carbuzz.com/gallery-images/1600/1140000/800/1140...) comes to mind.
A car like that probably would have a hard time getting certified in Europe.
Getting this thing approved for safety reasons might also be a challenge. I'd say a lot of people don't really want these things anywhere near pedestrians, children, or cyclists; all of which are very common in European traffic.
When I lived in Huddinge (a higher income municipality with lots of villas/detached houses) it seemed like 1 every 5 houses had at least one of those trucks parked in their garage, some had 2 or more. Same around the Danderyd area...
I've noticed the uptick in larger trucks, and bigger SUVs around the streets here for the past 4-5 years.
I really hope this trend doesn't continue, it sucks.
https://web.archive.org/web/20231203153448/https://i.ibb.co/...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38491312 (f150 sales citations)
https://www.autonews.com/sales/pickups-europeans-say-thanks-...
I assume they do some testing for vehicle vs. pedestrian or vehicle vs. cyclist, but would they run a Cybertruck into a Toyota Camry to see how the outcome compares for both vehicles compared to running an F-150 into the same Camry?
No they don't.
I don't think testing against other cars exists either.
In reality, modern cars are extremely safe (as much as a 2 ton hunk of metal can be).
Now, this calculation may be different for other vehicles involved in an accident with a cybertruck, but in reality, a concrete barrier is much harder than even this ugly slab of steel. The other cars are also engineered to absorb the same impacts.
Arguably the most vulnerable party in a cybertruck accident is a civilian located outside of a vehicle.
Saying designed to destroy denotes intent.
According to the article he "implied".
Another source and direct quote:
"If you’re ever in an argument with another car, you will win,” Musk told his fans at the delivery event in its Texas factory in Austin. “Here at Tesla we have the finest in apocalypse technology."
*https://fortune.com/2023/12/01/cybertruck-elon-musk-tesla-de...
I live near some rural-ecomentalist type villages (UK) (aesthetics might be an issue, let's ignore that for now) where these things would actually be pretty popular - completely unnecessary but popular.
Pedestrian impact regulations should make the Cybertruck design illegal, as well any modern truck design. IMO, the laws should be written so that the height of the 1996 F-150 is legal and the 1997 F-150 should be illegal for non-commercial purposes in cities.
1: https://twitter.com/WholeMarsBlog/status/1731918392800510345...
2: https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-v...
This isn't Mad Max or a zombie apocalypse to warrant such design choices on the road.
I'm surprised that it's legal in the US.
"Musk implied that in a crash with another vehicle, the Cybertruck—which weighs 6,603–6,843 lbs (2,995–3,104 kg)—will destroy the other vehicle."
*https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/the-tesla-cybertruck-fi...
I drive extremely carefully while using that stupidly large vehicle. Please don't honk at me when I don't jump out into small gaps at an intersection, cut me off when I'm leaving a large gap in front of me, or dart around me when I'm not accelerating like it's a drag race - I'm just trying not to hurt anyone.
My Dad was driving his 6800 lbs Super Duty a few years ago, pulling a trailer with a friend's antique car (a Buick about as long and as heavy as a barge) when a little 2500 lbs Honda Fit pulled out of a driveway to turn left without looking. The truck needed the bumper, radiator, and some trim replaced, the Honda was totaled. He applied the brakes fully on all 8 wheels but basically stayed in the lane unperturbed, the Honda was spun into the ditch and the whole left rear was crushed. If someone had been sitting in the back left seat they'd have been dead. Miraculously, no one was killed.
That arms race is why my wife refuses to downsize. We could get a smaller, lighter, newer travel trailer, and pull it with a Honda Odyssey. But she wants to be as tall as the pickups and as heavy as anything else so she doesn't get killed by some idiot.
Cars in Europe are not made from >3.2mm thick steel plating, and yet they manage it. I don't know if this comment was just ignorance or an attempt at gaslighting, but it doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.
Bugattis have to have added bumpers to make them legal in the US[1], although they're easily removable by the owner (at their own risk of fines).. it'd be funny if European Teslas had ugly padding around the edges/corners.. or maybe not funny, as I live there I'd loathe to see these ugly things.
1 https://www.carthrottle.com/news/bugatti-chirons-us-spec-bum...
I know precisely nothing about metal design, but why can't you bend it? Steel pipes can be rounded and be made of thin-ish metal.
Certain Fiats in the 1980s had an arrangement where, rather than a door handle, you'd push a button and the door would pop open. It is... not a car feature I would necessarily have expected to reappear in 2023.
- no door handles
- driving speed on center console
- glove box controlled by console
- gear shift not in-between driver/passenger
Contrarian I guess.... but not bad
Also "no rear view mirror" - it was clearly stated in the video that is only for the production test model and real production models will have rear and side view mirrors.
Which does seem unfortunate to me.
Also, can you imagine the cost of that as a consumable that should usually be replaced every month or three?
2. Wiper blades normally last longer than that
3. I still hate everything about that car
If people need a "truck" for actual work, they'll get a Toyota Hilux. And even those tend to have a hard shell over the bed essentially making it a van with huge ground clearance.
“If you’re ever in an argument with another car, you will win,” Musk told his fans at the delivery event in its Texas factory in Austin. “Here at Tesla we have the finest in apocalypse technology.”
*https://fortune.com/2023/12/01/cybertruck-elon-musk-tesla-de...
It's okay, the Cybertruck is for the wealthy and as we all know they are more important. The poors who it will kill can barely be considered people so who cares?
Even better, the truck may on its on volition decide to take some of the poors out without the driver's input.
This all started with the bio-attack mode on the ModelX. Now we have bullet proof windows, armor plating, and sharp edges. What’s next a retractable Gatling gun? Will people bat an eye?
Need a Mad Max car to take you to your escape rocket - now all of his endeavors make sense!
If you need a high rate of fire and are space/weight/power constrained, you might be better served by using a Gast gun design, like the GSh-23. You don't get to the same max rate of fire, but you also don't need to spin up the barrels or use an external power source to drive the gun.
So my position is clear, I want a better world, but am also pragmatic about the fish bowl I live in current state. If Americans, who are responsible for 35% of global gasoline consumption, want to buy trucks, sell them EVs. I cannot tell them not to buy trucks. I cannot make trucks smaller. I cannot build pedestrian friendly urban cores in any reasonable timeframe. I cannot tell them to be financially responsible. Free will and all that. Don't complain about levers that don't exist or that you can't pull, pull hard on levers you can.
"Look at that Cybertruck. Wouldn't you look cool in that?"
https://martecgroup.com/emotional-car-buying-journey/
(i know, everything is terrible, welcome to the shit show; first time?)
No one wants to be rich to be rich, for an arbitrary number in their bank or brokerage account. They want to be rich for some combination of freedom, power, status, and consumption. If you can get that with debt instead of some sort of wealth, there you go.
Then why can the automakers tell them to buy trucks? If you can't tell them not to, why is it ok for automakers to use marketing to artificially generate such desires?
https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1/freedom-of-speec...
