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Comment by jayalpha | Hacker News Reader

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jayalpha

I don't understand your post at all.

"so that no one would stifle the company's path towards autonomous EV's."

Who is "stifling"? And many companies work on autonomous cars.

"This will produce pressure on Europe to ease for instance the AI regulations"

What AI regulations in Europe? And what is Europe? The EU?

"and basically removed Customs tax"

This is not how custom taxes work. The EU is one of the biggest free trade zone in the world. If Mercosul joins, it is the biggest.

"I just don't understand why Tesla is slow in expanding to other countries. Here in Israel we don't have Teslas and it's an extremely innovative place"

Because Tesla is burning through cash like a motherfucker. And Israel is a tiny place. This is also why, to my knowledge, nobody build cars in Israel. I mean, why not Dubai?

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> "and basically removed Customs tax" > This is not how custom taxes work. The EU is one of the biggest free trade zone in the world. If Mercosul joins, it is the biggest.

Wait, isn't this is exactly how custom taxes work? Say the EU charges a 10% tax on all imported passenger cars (it does, and 25% on pickups and other trucks). Now, if Tesla sells cars to the EU that were made in the USA, wouldn't it trigger that import tax?

Now, say Tesla builds a factory inside the EU and makes cars there (as it plans to do). When sold in the EU, those cars wouldn't be charged an import tax because they're not being imported.

Right? What am I missing?

You’re right on both. Just as an added plus Tesla will have better tariffs to other countries while taking advantage of each of its hosting jurisdiction’s bilateral deals, so the impact is larger.

> Who is "stifling"

No one yet, but it means the company is less beholden to a single regulatory environment. This is generally a good thing.

> What AI regulations in Europe?

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-european-strategy-of-r...

https://www.ft.com/content/4fd088a4-021b-11e9-bf0f-53b8511af...

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300149/eu-artificial-int...

https://www.loc.gov/law/help/artificial-intelligence/europe-...

Also, most of the self-driving car regulation is state-level until the DOT pushes something through or Congress passes something, so for now, there are fifty different regulatory environments to pick from here.

> Mercosul join

If a whole other continent joins, it will be the biggest? The whole point is that Europe has geographical and (some) cultural continuity. Mercosul is South American. Why would it join the EU, especially considering that it would be out-numbered by its former colonial masters?

> Israel is a tiny place

No one said build there, people mentioned selling. Apparently, they're also sold in neighboring Jordan. I really can't understand why they wouldn't sell in Israel; it's a richer nation and a better market.

"If a whole other continent joins, it will be the biggest?"

Yes. The biggest free trade zone. Read the news from time to time. The EU-Mercosul FTA is supposed to be signed but may not due to Austria and partly also to France.

It may be the biggest already: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2177749/eu-...

>" Mercosul is South American. Why would it join the EU..."

Nobody's talking about joining the EU, but rather a free trade area. Regarding cars, the free trade area makes sense as many EU carmakers (Fiat, Renault, etc) are active in South America.

EU regulations prohibit the turning angle of the wheel unlike the U.S. You simply can’t navigate on autopilot in the same way. Also the EU makes money from the auto companies in their jurisdiction and they don’t want a U.S auto company competing with them. Now that Tesla opens a factory in Germany “massages” things.

The customs tax is in regards to countries/jurisdictions other than the ones with the Tesla factories. For instance a country like Israel might have a 20% tariff from Europe but 0% from China due to different bilateral deals so Tesla will send cars from there.

Israel is different than Dubai because literally a third of the population are in the tech space. Israel’s main export is tech and the tech ecosystem will build on-top of Tesla (Waze for example was founded here and there are many auto security startups for instance).

>"EU regulations prohibit the turning angle of the wheel unlike the U.S. You simply can’t navigate on autopilot in the same way."

I've never heard anyone complaining that their car is too safe.

How many people have been killed in autopilot-related accidents in Europe vs the US?

>"Also the EU makes money from the auto companies in their jurisdiction and they don’t want a U.S auto company competing with them."

Carmakers can make cars in the EU and pay taxes. Or they can import them from the US and pay tariffs.

Exactly as EU carmakers are treated in the US...

I wouldn't say limiting the wheel's sharp turn when you need it to do a sharp turn is safe.

No one said that Europe is doing something that the U.S wouldn't do in return. Just stating the facts as they are.

> EU regulations prohibit the turning angle of the wheel unlike the U.S. You simply can’t navigate on autopilot in the same way.

You seem to be overstating the issue, Tesla has already adapted their software to the new rules, and they seem to be related to EU safety standards:

https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/17/tesla-updates-autopilot-...

> Also the EU makes money from the auto companies in their jurisdiction and they don’t want a U.S auto company competing with them.

I believe that Ford might have something to say about that. They've been in Europe since... 1967.

Or GM since 1986 (now Opel and Vauxhall).

Or the existing Fiat-Chrysler.

Germany and EU very obviously have a policy preference to any large auto-companies that both operate and sell there.

It’s not going to be written down on paper but there’s plenty of evidence to support it through their history of actions. And Germany has the largest influence on the EU economy wise having the largest GDP by far.

Completely dropping customs tax because a foreign company factory opened there is a bit much though.

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