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Comment by SlowRobotAhead | Hacker News Reader

Brutalist or not, it’s not real.

That car as shown will absolutely not pass crash testing, European homologation and pedestrian impact, both issues with it being 1/8” stainless steel panels (separate discussion how those make no damn sense!). It has no mirrors, or wipers.

What has been shown is a roughly drawn concept.

Anyone that thinks they’re going to get exactly that and exactly for $40,000 hasn’t been around the concept car scene.

I’ll engage discussions on this thing when it’s not just a PR move.

(Source: automotive engineer)

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I know nothing about cars, but I've been wondering how anything remotely resembling what was shown could pass a crash test. It's going to have to be radically transformed, so why bother even showing a design at this point?

My company has been through crash about three times at a million dollars a pop. I’m 99% certain that “truck” as shown will not pass.

Not even getting in to ped impact.

There is no way 1/8” steel panels will cut it. There will need to be some thin panels and some serious crumple zone going on “under the hood”.

Since when do pickup truck designers care about the European market?

Perhaps Tesla will make an EU-complaint version some day, but this is not that truck.

The market for pickup trucks in Europe is a rounding error compared to the market for pickup trucks in North America.

/Neither a pickup truck nor Tesla enthusiast.

You’d think a billion-dollar car company with 17 years and three commercially-successful car models under their belt would have planned for that.

We have no idea how the structure reacts to crashes, and any assumptions right now are pointless.

Yes. I would have thought that. Doesn’t change reality though. It’s a hype driven company, and that’s fine, just don’t be surprised when this thing has a bumper if it’s ever released.

The lack of physical mirrors is an issue (at the moment) for US homologation, but wouldn't be for EU regulations.

the lack of physical mirrors would be problematic in the eu as well. maybe not for all countries, but since it's in germany: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stvzo_2012/__56.html it would be in other countries as well. (a lot of of eu guidances are driven by german manufacturers)

There's a vehicle, the Audi e-tron, with virtual side mirrors that's on sale and on the roads right now in Germany and other EU countries.

https://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/tron/audi-e-tron.ht...

In German:

> Effizienz, Sicherheit und ein neuartiges Technik- und Fahrerlebnis – der optionale virtuelle Außenspiegel des Audi e-tron bietet Ihnen einen echten Mehrwert. Der flache Träger reduziert die Fahrzeugbreite gegenüber einem herkömmlichen Außenspiegel um 15 Zentimeter und damit auch den Luftwiderstand und das Windgeräuschniveau. Eine kleine Kamera projiziert die Bilder digital auf kontraststarke OLED-Displays ins Innere. Insbesondere bei Dämmerung und in der Nacht erkennen Sie trotz Scheinwerferreflexionen rückwärtige Fahrzeuge gestochen scharf. Der Audi e-tron ist das erste Serienmodell, in dem der virtuelle Außenspiegel zum Einsatz kommt.

Machine translated to English:

> Efficiency, safety and an innovative technology and driving experience - the optional virtual exterior mirror of the Audi e-tron offers you real added value. The flat carrier reduces the vehicle width by 15 centimeters compared to a conventional exterior mirror and thus also the air resistance and wind noise level. A small camera digitally projects the images into the interior on high-contrast OLED displays. Particularly at dusk and at night, you can see rear-end vehicles with pin-sharp clarity despite headlight reflections. The Audi e-tron is the first production model in which the virtual exterior mirror is used.

well it has a mirror. the camera is at the same position where the real mirror would be. you can look at the pictures of the car to see them. a mirror does not need to be a physical mirror. it just need's to have a view on the "dead" perspective of your car. a camera that shows that view and uses the same position as the old mirror actually is not against the law:

> bei Personenkraftwagen sowie Lastkraftwagen, Zugmaschinen und Sattelzugmaschinen mit einer zulässigen Gesamtmasse von nicht mehr als 3,5 t Spiegel oder andere Einrichtungen für indirekte Sicht, die in den im Anhang zu dieser Vorschrift genannten Bestimmungen für diese Fahrzeuge als vorgeschrieben bezeichnet sind; die vorgeschriebenen sowie vorhandene gemäß Anhang III Nummer 2.1.1 der im Anhang zu dieser Vorschrift genannten Richtlinie zulässige Spiegel oder andere Einrichtungen für indirekte Sicht müssen den im Anhang zu dieser Vorschrift genannten Bestimmungen entsprechen;

which says mirrors or anything that shows this indirect view. (but I doubt that there are that many things which are "showing this indirect view")

Right, as with the Cybertruck, as far as we know publicly: https://insideevs.com/news/387847/tesla-cybertruck-sideview-...

The US and some other jurisdictions don't allow these cameras as an alternative, which was my point.

It isn't "a roughly drawn concept" if it's been seen on the road, driven even by Elon Musk himself. With passengers.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/cybertruck?lang=en

Have you seen a concept car from a traditional car makers on the road after its unveil?

In fact that's the difference between Tesla and other carmakers. They don't do concepts with grand future vision, design clues, etc like the others. Given their record it's likely the production versions of Roadster 2, Semi and Cybertruck will look the same as what we've seen.

Europe probably isn’t the target market from what I understand many more people drive pickups in North America than Europe?

They are taking "pre-orders" (more like interest-free loans) in European markets.

E.g. https://www.tesla.com/sv_se/cybertruck/design#battery

The content and the price is localized (e.g. it's at an even 1000 SEK).

There is a caveat listed: "All configurations have US specifications only."

European countries should start thinking about legislations against scams like these. Again Tesla is on the cutting edge of... scams.

Btw: here's poll on teslaclubsweden.com on who has "ordered" a CyberTruck: (the bars show different regions of Sweden)

https://teslaclubsweden.se/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=19171

I hesitate to call these people idiots (mostly because that's rude) .. but.. they would certainly benefit from consumer protection laws.

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