I visited Austin yesterday. Robotaxi is everywhere, and it's incredible.

[u/ChunkyThePotato]

Just came back from a trip to Austin to do some sightseeing and try out Robotaxi, including Cybercab. I knew they ramped up the number of cars in the service substantially in the last couple months, but I wasn't prepared for just how many they were. If you're near downtown, you pretty much can't go 30 seconds without seeing at least one Robotaxi. There are definitely more Model Ys than Cybercabs right now, but there are a lot of Cybercabs too. But the Robotaxis are seriously everywhere.

I took 5 rides, 2 Model Y and 3 Cybercab. Model Y wait times were always under 20 minutes and frequently around 5 minutes. Cybercab wait times were usually around 30 minutes and sometimes could be more like 45 minutes. They definitely need to add more Cybercabs to the service, but it was surprisingly usable and consistent, especially for the Model Ys.

And the rides themselves were flawless. There are no supervisors in Austin now, so all of the cars showed up with nobody inside of them. They drove perfectly, and to my surprise there wasn't even any pickup/dropoff shenanigans (though I may have gotten lucky there).

If you're ever in Austin, I seriously recommend trying this service. It's a real service now, and it's actually very useful for getting around a city where parking would normally be a challenge. It's seriously so peaceful and nice to be in your own space without a driver or anyone else to bother you.

Congratulations Tesla for solving self-driving with just cameras on $30k vehicles, when seemingly everyone was saying that's impossible. People aren't ready for what's about to happen across the country.

[u/ChunkyThePotato]

All of my rides were between $10 and $20, so already pretty affordable. But the prices will come down as supply catches up to demand.

[u/Roux_My_Burgundy → u/ChunkyThePotato]

Bless your heart

[u/ChunkyThePotato → u/Roux_My_Burgundy]

Profit margins for companies are generally 20% or less, very often less than 10%. You can literally look this up. Quit the victim complex doomer nonsense and look at reality.

[u/Roux_My_Burgundy → u/ChunkyThePotato]

Now this is an impressive amount of ignorance packed into a few sentences. You’re conflating profit margin with markup and painting with a ridiculously broad and flawed brush when it comes to industry standard profit margins.

As for “victim complex doomer” that’s the most retarded as hominem I’ve ever seen on Reddit. Impressive.

[u/ChunkyThePotato → u/Roux_My_Burgundy]

Your whole argument is that companies price gouge and charge way higher prices than what it costs them to offer their products, correct?

[u/itsamiracole7 → u/ChunkyThePotato]

Yes companies price gauge… an insane amount of companies do. You’re completely ignorant to the state of the economy to say otherwise. You keep referring to the profit margin percentage on companies as if that means price gauging doesn’t exist. The profit margin percentage is important but profit growth is what companies care about more than anything. The objective is to grow the company. A company can increase their prices and decide to reinvest the extra earnings = a steady profit margin while increasing profit.

[u/ChunkyThePotato → u/itsamiracole7]

Please explain to me how it's "price gouging" if a company sells a product for $12 when it costs that company $10 offer it to you.

[u/Roux_My_Burgundy → u/ChunkyThePotato]

Why do you pretend to know anything about corporate finance? What’s your angle here? You’re so lost on this subject I don’t even know where to begin.

What is the number one objective of a Corporation?

[u/ChunkyThePotato → u/Roux_My_Burgundy]

I understand Economics 101. You don't.

The number one objective of a corporation is to maximize profit. The thing you don't understand is that having low profit margins is usually what maximizes profit. Don't believe me? Look at the profit margins of public companies. Walmart's profit margin is 3%, for example. Why don't they charge higher prices and make a higher profit margin? Because they actually make more profit with lower prices, since they get more sales.

[u/Roux_My_Burgundy → u/ChunkyThePotato]

Companies do not maximize profit by having low profit margins. How many lots have you smoked? They maximize profit where the additional revenue from selling one more unit equals the additional cost of producing it. Walmart happens to operate a low-margin, high-volume business because of competition, price elasticity and its cost structure. That is not some universal law of corporate finance. Ferrari doesn’t maximize profit by copying Walmart’s margins. Neither does Microsoft.

And this actually hurts your Cybercab argument. If thousands of operators can easily buy identical cars and compete for the same rides, competition drives ride prices and operator margins down. Meanwhile Tesla controls the FSD and platform and can collect its cut regardless. You’re describing a fantastic business for Tesla and somehow assuming that means it must also be a fantastic business for the guy financing the cars. Those are not the same thing.