I mean, the feds have done multiple on-site inspections since the (unenforced?) BAAQMD violations dropped, and multiple paint shop sources told me that Tesla rampantly violated its permit conditions for years... so the only surprise here is media outlets actually reporting on it.
By the way, the BAAQMD (@AirDistrict) seems to have stopped publishing any documents related to Tesla or the double-digit Clean Air Act violations it has been sitting on for years now. At least the EPA seems to care about Tesla's entitlement to non-compliance with enviro regs!
This is how casual Tesla has been about its Clean Air Act noncompliance: it uploaded video evidence to the internet. Those blue filters were just jammed into the non-functioning overspray control system. Definitely not compliant. More here: thedrive.com/tech/28339/tes…
Tesla's "mission" is a cheap façade, barely concealing their core conviction: anything that inconveniences the company can be ignored, and the consequences can be covered up. This is obvious in a long pattern of behavior, stretching from Fremont to Grünheide
The fact that @AirDistrict has sat on this undeniable pattern of impunity to environmental regulations, even as an elementary school and family housing have been built literally next door to the Fremont plant, shows who they really serve... and it's not the community.
The reason I've been carrying on a fairly lonely watch on this issue is not that I think it's the biggest threat to the environment, but that the pattern of impunity all but guarantees Tesla will continue to treat environmental regulations as optional. How bad must it become?
I will say, in the media's defense: air quality regulation is one of the hardest topics I have ever covered. The complexity of regulations, compliance, and enforcement is truly staggering. Few reporters have the bandwidth to learn it and report on a complex enforcement situation.
If you do want to take on this challenge, all my initial reporting is linked below, my DMs are open, and I'm willing to help however I can. I hope someone does in the next year or so, before a new elementary school opens next door.
I don't claim to speak for the left, but:
-union busting
-poor workplace conditions/safety
-SWATing whistleblowers
-repeated environmental violations (really)
-market manipulation
-unsafe automated driving development/deployment, even by the standards of an unregulated industry
I think the core of the left's animus toward Musk is that he embodies the triumphant power of unfettered, highly-concentrated capital that defines our times. The fact that he so openly cultivates a shallow, smarmy, grifting cult of personality as cover adds insult to injury.
Musk once had a coalition of the techno-libertarian right and green left. Then the right hated him for being a climate subsidy grifter. Then the left started hating him for the reasons above (and more). Now the right loves him because he makes libs mad. The story of our times!
Speaking of the need for good AV influencers, here's something to keep in mind: you don't have to be an expert to help people understand complex topics. In fact, the best way to teach is often by learning yourself and sharing your process in real time.
In my first week or so of auto industry blogging, I realized that most readers/commenters knew more about the topic than I ever would. Accepting that allowed me to stop trying to be an expert and just self-educate, share as I learn, and make space for others to build on it.
It would actually be incredibly valuable for those of us in AV education to be able to follow more people as they go about self-educating on the topic. There's no playbook for the best educational processes when it comes to this stuff, so insight into yours would be super helpful
Unless Tesla's carbon impact calculation practices have changed, the carbon impact numbers here assume that all Superchargers only use zero-emission power... which is inconveniently disproven by the promise that they will only start doing so sometime this year. 🙈🙉🙊
One of the most jarring revelations from my first big Tesla story, about its battery swap scheme, was discovering that Tesla's "carbon impact" claims were pure fiction. Their spox insisted they were "not trying to pull a fast one" but they clearly were. dailykanban.com/2015/05/27/tes…
The exit of Uber and Lyft strikes me as being reflective of growing pragmatism in the AV space, as does the increasing importance of auto OEM partnerships and the shift toward trucking and logistics. I think we're largely past the bottom of the trough at this point.
The X-Factor in this is Tesla. They never stopped acting like we're still in the midst of Peak AV Hype, and the massive risks they've embraced with their approach (see the latest fatal crash) could still send the entire sector back to deep Trough of Disillusionment territory.
One of the more disheartening things about the reaction to the most recent Tesla crash has been the number of people saying: "see, self-driving cars will never work." Most of the public has no idea that Tesla's issues are in no way reflective of the rest of the AV sector.
Let's start with the easy stuff: @Lebeaucarnews got a basic fact wrong, his own outlet (@CNBC) has reported that NHTSA has opened at least 28 investigations into Tesla crashes and 24 of those are STILL OPEN TODAY. cnbc.com/2021/04/19/tes…
Obviously the fact that most of NHTSA's Tesla crash investigations are still open casts doubt on @Lebeaucarnews' opinion that they exonerated Tesla and blamed the driver.
But the biggest issue I have here is Phil's framing: this is not a choice between blaming driver or system.
By far the most in-depth investigations of Autopilot-involved crashes were by the @NTSB, and in every case they found that the design of the system contributed to misuse and the crash/death. Not one or the other, but both.
It appears that I am no longer the only person concerned about chain of custody issues for vehicle data related to crashes that may have involved Autopilot. I can't remember a time when a warrant was used to obtain data from Tesla, so this seems big.
To clarify, it seems that the Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman quoted in the tweet embedded above has subpoenaed the offboard vehicle data, which makes more sense than an arrest warrant. click2houston.com/news/local/202…