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There’s a Very Simple Pattern to Elon Musk’s Broken Promises


The entrepreneur’s habit of overpromising on deadlines may be frustrating for investors—but for those looking to see whether a Musk pledge will come good, there’s a key phrase to watch out for.

WIRED examined the history of Musk’s pledges on everything from Full Self Driving, Hyperloop, Robotaxis, and, yes, robot armies, with a view to reminding ourselves, his fans, and investors how reality in Elon’s world rarely matches up to the rhetoric. A form of magnetic levitation (maglev) capsule in an air-evacuated steel tube on stilts, Hyperloop was described on the company’s website as being an “ultra-high-speed public transportation system in which passengers travel in autonomous electric pods at 600+ miles per hour.” This description has since been removed but was documented by Electrek. With plummeting sales and increased scrutiny, Musk may soon come to rue the fact that he hasn’t managed to make good on so many assurances since 2006 when he wrote, in a foundational pledge, that Tesla’s goal—still not delivered, and supposedly finally starting production next month —was to produce an affordable family car.

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