Not just that. Musk sucks and I hate to defend him, but at what point is this video not considered industrial espionage? I’d almost put this videographer in the same boat as the asshats who like to fly their drones near airports (because Teslas can’t fly…yet).
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This is the cheapest, ugliest, and useless truck I’ve ever seen. Seriously, how do you screw up a truck?!
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If (and it’s definitely a big if) the drone pilot wasn’t violating any airspace restrictions when flying there then it’s all fair game. All auto manufacturers have known for decades that people will try to get “spy” photos of their pre-production cars, so if they choose to test their cars out in the open without camouflaging them (which is a common practice) then that’s on them.
Besides, the truck isn’t some super secret vehicle. It’s had an extremely well publicized public unveiling already. They aren’t going to be put at some kind of competitive disadvantage due to the dumb drone video.
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Industrial espionage isn’t exactly illegal. It’s not like this is a matter of national security; manufacturers try to keep tabs on what each other are up to all the time.
It only becomes a legal problem when someone trespasses on private property or breaks a non-disclosure agreement to share confidential information, and even then it is generally a civil matter rather than a criminal one.
Automobile manufacturing espionage is a whole thing.
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Fuck you, Time Magazine.
At least there’s some solace in how low magazine readership has fallen.
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His truck reminds me of the vehicles in Space Mutiny!
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On the bright side, occasionally a good idea comes as a result of a stupid problem of your own creation. I’m not sure Tesla has produced any such ideas yet, but they’re really trying.
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Whether or not he’s really been the most influential person this year, it should be noted that this designation by Time Magazine is not meant to be an honor. Time says it’s a person, group, idea or object that “for better or worse has done the most to influence the events of the year.” Sure, some good folks like Gandhi, Jimmy Carter, and Greta Thunberg have been recipients, but so have Hitler, Stalin, and Trump.
That said, I would have expected someone or something related to the pandemic (like a group of vaccine scientists or the virus itself) to get the designation this year.
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Driving one isn’t very enjoyable. The gull wing doors are cool but there is almost no headroom. The front windshield is at such a slant that the field of vision is limited. I imagine it’s like driving in one of those old chop-top hot rods. I wanted a DeLorean when I was a little kid, but driving one made me change my mind.
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There seem to be many arseholes in the Time Person of the Year list. I’d be offended if I were selected.
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Sure, but that’s like white people saying after they did a racism, “Look, I intended no such thing!”
Perception is what matters here, and I’d bet that the majority of people into whose orbit that designation passes perceive it as an honor.
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The wiper might be a huge distraction when you’re trying to play video games tho.
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And still nothing for the back window, it looks like. As someone who drives a car without a back window wiper (1st generation Prius), I assure you it becomes very annoying when there’s rain or snow.
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Agree 100% that the Delorean is crap to drive. But not because of the ergonomics - I’ve owned 2 gullwing door cars in my life, and I own one of them now. The current one is an Autozam AZ-1 so I clearly don’t let ergonomics violate the rule of cool. (Also - my Delorean driving experience was in 2015. Might have been much better in-period, although I also recently owned a 49 Hudson so I am familiar with setting expectations for the period.)
BTW this Delorean might be an exception to the “drives like crap” rule:
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In fairness I can’t think of a single model of pickup truck that includes a rear wiper for its cab. Are you aware of one?
I don’t know much about pickup trucks, but my impression was that most of them don’t need one because the back window is completely vertical. My car has one that slopes, and the Tesla truck’s slopes MUCH more.
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I think the sloped part is a bed cover, not a window. Which makes it even worse because you get zero rear visibility with the cover closed:
With the cover open there’s a small vertical rear window visible.
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I knew which part was the bed, but it looks like what I thought was a back window might just be a part of the roof (which, for some reason, is dark like a window in the footage). So on the plus side, the back window is not only vertical but has an overhang to shelter it. On the minus side… yeah, you basically can’t ever close the bed cover.
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