Tesla's Chief Vehicle Engineer Returns To Apple (theverge.com) 130
Doug Field, the former VP of Mac hardware who left Apple to become Tesla's chief vehicle engineer, has returned to Cupertino. Field is reportedly working on the company's secretive "Project Titan" self-driving car program. The Verge reports: Field ran Tesla's vehicle production and engineering, but CEO Elon Musk took over responsibility for production this year after the company failed to meet its initial first-quarter goal for the Model 3. Field then took a leave of absence in May, and subsequently left the company altogether in June. Project Titan has reportedly been scaled back considerably from its initial scope, with hundreds of people leaving the division as Apple is said to focus on seeking carmaker partners for its self-driving software. [Daring Fireball's John Gruber] speculates that Field's return to Titan suggests Apple could still have an interest in producing vehicles itself, while cautioning that employees do move between the two companies regularly.
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"Help, SEC, save me from my losses!" is always the final Hail Mary of a short seller. Every time.
And it's almost always a fumble.
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To repeat: "Help, SEC, save me from my losses!"
Perhaps you're looking at a different TSLA than me. Because in the reality I exist in, TSLA was under $300 just a couple weeks ago.
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Come to the wired.
God is here.
Re: Just in time, too. (Score:1)
No matter what your comment, Rei will roll in it. Like a stray dog who encounters a dead festering muskrat rolls in it.
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<feminist rant>
Why is it that "oral sex on a man" is a standard throw-around insult? When was the last time that you saw a man who was supportive of a woman being accused of "eating her out"? Rarely, if ever. Yet the opposite situation is a generic throwaway insult here. Why is it that male sexuality isn't seen as insulting at all, but female sexuality is supposed to be some sort of mark of shame?
If we have a situation wh
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Lol, shorts now thinking Tesla should be worth more money? Now I've seen everything.
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Shorts refusing to believe Musk and shorting the stock on positive announcements isn't "news".
Them repeatedly losing their shirts doing so also isn't news.
Could Apple fund Tesla going private? (Score:1)
So wouldnâ(TM)t put it past Apple to somehow fund Tesla going private initiative. Tesla would need a sugar daddy like Apple to go private.
Re:Could Apple fund Tesla going private? (Score:5, Insightful)
Musk has paid his bills, hasn't been accused of screwing over contractors, and hasn't bankrupted even one company yet. Hardly comparable.
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Investors voted to take over SolarCity, with 85% of voting shareholders voting "Yes". Or was Musk using his mind control ray? It was taken over not for its loan-based solar install business (which is a dying model due to the continued declines in panel costs), but for the solar Gigafactory (Gigafactory 2) - which is what SolarCity accrued most of its debt on. It's not as far along the rampup as Gigafactory 1 (the battery / motor plant in Nevada), but I'm very much a fan of the potential of their solar ro
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This [electrek.co]. It's undergoing trials with early customers right now.
From Tesla. Big waiting list, though, as rampup doesn't start until later this year, and will continue over next year.
No, no, you're mixing up your short arguments! You're supposed to say that it's been scrubbed from the marketing brochures and has b
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The SolarCity takeover was clearly a scam to bail out Musk and his cousins who had money invested in the company. He spent billions on something that is totally worthless to save their own skins, effectively using Tesla shareholders money as his own personal piggy bank.
Why are you flooding this thread with post after post defending Musk? Are you his mum?
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Except for the Tesla contractors going unpaid?
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At least at the top.
I've heard that among the rank and file, if you leave, Apple won't ever hire you back.
Many companies are like that. I work far, far away from Silly Valley, and where I work it's pretty well known that if you leave, for any reason, you'll never be allowed to come back.
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Re:Apple and Silly Valley's revolving door. (Score:4, Insightful)
it's pretty well known that if you leave, for any reason, you'll never be allowed to come back.
That is a foolish policy. My company keeps in touch with alumni, and we invite them to our annual picnic. We have rehired several "boomerangs", with good results every time. They already know our culture and procedures, so they can hit the ground running, without the typical 3-6 month learning curve. We also already know their capabilities, so we can put them into a team where they fit. They come back brimming with new ideas about how to fix our products and processes, and they have learned that the grass isn't greener elsewhere, so they rarely leave a second time.
What possible justification is there for a "no rehire" policy? Do they really think it will dissuade people from quitting?
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I'm sorry, I can't hear you from all the way up here atop this pile of money.
Re: Tesla Dieing (Score:1)
'Rei' comments have started to become a little shrill and shrieky. Just a little.
Take note of this, everybody.
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Tesla is basically propped up entirely by blind fanboyism. No other car company has 'fans' who will pay money for a car and then accept it covered in dirt, scratches, panel gaps and fucked-up paint.
sounds like he spied for apple (Score:2, Insightful)
wonder if he went to tesla just to gather info then report back to apple.
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Considering he worked at Tesla for 4 years, that retardation must be contagious if he needed that long to figure it out.
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"Well, he studied with a true master, so there was a lot to learn. See, he missed the most important lesson - TO NEVER GO FULL RETARD."
Could have learned that from the Jobs' cancer regimen.
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Jobs actually delivered. The most Musk can do is waste money and jerk off on twitter.
Jobs delivered wankery and gold cases. Musk's delivered rockets that land and the most desirable EVs ever produced.
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4 years is actually a pretty reasonable length of time as an executive in a company these days. Particularly in a silicon valley growth company.
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Not like you care, but... [teslarati.com]
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You sound very convincing, like your words are rational and well thought out.
Your posting has been very effective and not self-defeating at all.
Keep up the good work!
Apple cars, really? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe now that Doug is back at Apple, he should work on "Secret Project Working Keyboard".
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Or maybe not. Apple users don't type, they just pour their artistic minds into the iProduct.
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Re:Apple cars, really? (Score:4, Funny)
He is too busy working on replacing the steering wheel with a touch bar.
Predictable Reaction to News (Score:4, Insightful)
So, the big news today is that Tesla lost one employee! One who worked as an executive for four years, and managed the people who really designed the car. For someone like that to hold a job for only four years isn't unusual.
This is met with a lot of totally unsubstantiated "Tesla will crash", "It's a really bad car", "Musk is going to jail". The shorts are still out there, or just trolls.
As far as I can tell, lots of people want their cars, their home solar products, their industrial battery products, etc.
I agree that Musk was probably just teasing the shorts. But Musk can say he's considering any thing he wants. And although it would be the largest stock buy-out ever, on paper, consider that the actual buying out is only for the people who decide to sell - while many would hang on - and he probably is able to line up the financing to handle a reasonable estimate of how many investors would sell out.
Lots of companies go private, public again, and private again. It's more common these days, with more private money in the market. And right now, being public is a distraction for Tesla. Too much energy spent fighting FUD.
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I agree that Musk was probably just teasing the shorts. But Musk can say he's considering any thing he wants.
Maybe. But what he can't say is "funding secured" [bloomberg.com] if it isn't.
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I'm not sure why people keep bringing up the SEC 8-K thing. It wouldn't be not due yet regardless. Regulations are for it to be filed within four business days after a material announcement - aka by the end of the day on Monday.
And yes, there's no shortage of possible candidates. Just some various examples:
* The Saudi sovereign wealth fund (recently bought 3-5% of the company on the open market)
* Softbank (was trying to buy the company last year, but negotiations broke down because Musk did
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Hate to break it to you... [businessinsider.com]
Yeah, keep telling yourself that. [google.is]
It was precisely the other way around [time.com]. Musk terminated the deal when Tesla had its first profitable quarter and no longer needed the cash. And it was for $6B at an $11B valuation, and that was when Tesla was a fa
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Oh, so Bloomberg is in on the conspiracy now too! Where does this stop - are the Illuminati trying to help Musk as well?
Your article says literally the opposite of what you claim: "Musk broke off talks and the company has gone from strengt
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I love how I'm apparently everyone, everywhere. It's neat being omnipresent. ;)
BTW, did you mix up your short theses? The short thesis that's in vogue today is "there's no demand", not "Tesla can't produce". ;) So you should be assuming I got my VIN and that there's nobody left on the list. Despite them not having opened up anywhere outside the US, and with no signs of them doing so any time soon.
Or I guess you could buck the trend and keep insisting on the "Tesla can't produce" short-selling hypothesis.
Re: Fucking Musk shills, won't you (Score:1)
Keep that blue dress wrapped up and in the back of your closet. It protects the dna 'just in case' you ever start calling him 'the big creep.'
He's back to Apple (Score:2)
Re: non compete clause (Score:1)
Thank you, HR shill.
It's the brand new Icar! (Score:1)
Hurry, line up for the new Icar. You know you're having a fit to own one already. We'll pack it with technology that's a least 3 years old and say it's the first. We'll price it way beyond were it should be and forget about working on it! We have the hood and the other parts welded shut so you can't get to them. You have to have one of our big fucking car disassemblers using our specially designed bolts to separate that sucker. Only we can do it.
Now who will be the first with their $100,000 deposit.
Re:Use Crisco in Sodomy. (Score:5, Informative)
"How does someone who was "VP of Mac hardware" at Apple, become the head of "vehicle production and engineering" at Tesla? How in the fucking fuck is that even possible? Maybe I am extremely naive, but I would expect Tesla to hire someone with, you know, extensive automotive experience"
He worked for 6 yrs at Ford as a Dev Eng right after after getting his Mech Eng degree from Purdue
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Small wonder Tesla cannot get a grip on its "production hell".
OTOH, they are not held back by ossified traditional thinking.
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You don't gerit, man, this ain't no regular car. This is ELECTRIC car, it runs on electricitay. So, totally like a webserver.
420!
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There are two other Tesla forums (Model 3 Owners Club and Tesla Motors Club) unconnected to Tesla itself, and I've never seen a post like that on either. Furthermore, your single example is a post on the Tesla forums that is most notable for not being deleted in any way, shape or form, despite being written way back in May. FYI: "Fcos154" only ever showed up at the forum to write this one thread (and
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"Tesla is stalling deliveries/refunds"
I do think they are but it's all about the Fed tax credit and cash hoarding until they can open up the delivery floodgates to the end of the year.
If they can average 4500 / wk over H2 2018, that's 117k Model 3s plus whatever number of S & X they can hawk, let's say 40k combined.
With an ASP of $55k for Model 3 and $90k for S/X, that $10 Billion in gross automotive revenue for 6 months compared to $11.8B total revenue for all 2017.
I know Tesla is claiming over 5k per
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That guy was pretty unlucky it seems, if his story is true. Usually they deliver the car with a load of defects, but you do get a car.
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Funny how this "complete fail" company keeps earning the highest customer satisfaction rating in the industry, huh?
Funny all of the people on the forums and YouTube who can't shut up about how much they love their car.
Funny the results of the ownership survey [google.com].
Guess it's a mass delusion.
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It's funny how you guys only criticize Consumer Reports' work when it says something you don't like. If anonymous surveys aren't good enough for you, then what exactly is?
Hahaha... your source is Randy Munro? Um, you might want to look at what Munro has been s [insideevs.com]
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How does someone go from being a sleazy multi-bankrupt real estate peddler to President of the United States?
Re: Use Crisco in Sodomy. (Score:1)
Whataboutism.
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Apple Car®
Essentially the same as a Telsa, but costs twice as much and nothing can be repaired or replaced because everything is soldered in place.