Drivers for Elon Musk’s Loop get a script about their ‘great leader’

July 28, 2021

Drivers for Elon Musk’s underground Loop system in Las Vegas have been instructed to bypass passengers’ questions about how long they have been driving for the company, declare ignorance about crashes, and shut down conversations about Musk himself.

Using public records laws, TechCrunch obtained documents that detail daily operations at the Loop, which opened in June to transport attendees around the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) using modified Tesla vehicles. Among the documents is a “Ride Script” that every new recruit must follow when curious passengers ask questions.

The script shows just how serious The Boring Company (TBC), which built and operates the system, is about controlling the public image of the new system, its technology and especially its founder, Elon Musk.

If riders ask a driver how long they have been with the company, they are instructed to respond with: “Long enough to know these tunnels pretty well!” The document goes on to note: “Passengers will not feel safe if they think you’ve only been driving for a week (even though that could mean hundreds of rides). Accordingly, do not share how long you’ve been employed here, but instead, find a way to evade the question or shift the focus,” the document advises drivers.

When asked how many crashes the system has experienced (the script uses the term “accidents”), drivers are told to respond: “It’s a very safe system, and I’m not sure. You’d have to reach out to the company.” Riders should expect similarly vague responses if they wonder how many employees or drivers TBC has, or how much the tunnels cost to dig. (About $53 million in total).

The use of Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system that is branded “Autopilot” is clearly a sore point at TBC. Clark County does not currently permit the use of the various driver assistance features anywhere within the Loop system, including automatic emergency braking or technologies that make the vehicle aware of obstacles and keep the vehicle in lane.

Officials even require mechanics to check the vehicles to ensure these are not activated.

“In addition to completing the actions under the initial inspection checklist, maintenance staff will verify that the automatic features of the vehicle, such as steering and braking/acceleration/deceleration assist (commonly known as Autopilot) are disabled for manual loop operation,” the document reads. The following checks will be conducted on a daily basis by CWPM technicians, according to the Vehicle Maintenance plan viewed by TechCrunch.

If a passenger should ask whether the Loop’s Tesla vehicles use Autopilot, drivers will give a response. However, this content was marked “Public Safety Related Confidential” in the documents TechCrunch received and was redacted, as were many other technical details.

TechCrunch’s repeated requests to officials to explain this decision went unanswered.
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He who shall not be named

The script also covers responses to questions about Musk himself: “This category of questions is extremely common and extremely sensitive. Public fascination with our founder is inevitable and may dominate the conversation. Be as brief as possible, and do your best to shut down such conversation. If passengers continue to force the topic, politely say, ‘I’m sorry, but I really can’t comment’ and change the subject.”

Nevertheless, the script provides a number of replies to common Musk questions. Ask what Musk is like and you should expect the answer: “He’s awesome! Inspiring / motivating / etc.”

Follow up with: “Do you like working for him?” and you’ll get a response that could have come straight from North Korea: “Yup, he’s a great leader! He motivates us to do great work.”

Should a customer wonder how involved Musk is in the business, the driver will tell them: “He’s the company founder, and has been very involved and supportive.” Questions about Musk’s erratic tweets will be brushed off: “Elon is a public figure. We’re just here to provide an awesome transportation experience!”

One question, however, seems to hint that not everyone is happy working for Musk: “Is it true what I’ve read about him in the papers that he [is a mean boss / smokes pot / doesn’t let employees take vacations / etc.]?” Your driver’s rather equivocal response will be: “I haven’t seen that article, but that hasn’t been my experience.”

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Tesla owners are in for some new goodies. The company has released a 2021.24 software update which includes a variety of upgrades and new features. Among these, users will be able to connect to Disney+ through the Tesla Theater app, access a Car Wash Mode, Auto-Dimming Mirrors, and other features aimed at improving the driving experience. 7 photos

First introduced with a V10 software update in 2019, the Theater Mode already offers Netflix, Youtube, Hulu (or Hulu+ Live TV), and Twitch for all models that have the Media Control Unit version 2 (MCU2).

With the 2021.24 new software update announced in a Reddit post by Tesla owner Emulsifide, the Theather Mode will finally feature Dsiney+. It only took two years to get it on the app after the company’s CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that the feature will be available “soon.” Well, that “soon” took its sweet time.

The update also includes a Car Wash Mode, which will improve the drivers’ experience at the car wash. This option “closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, sentry mode, walk-away door locks, and parking sensor chimes.”

The mode prevents the car from automatically parking brake as well. In case the owner leaves the vehicle in a car wash with conveyor belts, it shifts from the Free Roll option to Neutral.

For Tesla vehicles equipped with auto-dimming mirrors, the new Mirror Auto Dim can now activate and deactivate the feature. Other updates added are the Dashcam improvements which allow the Dashcam to automatically save clips and a Range Display icon placed next to the battery icon.

For users who don’t want to pay for Tesla’s in-car premium connectivity offer, the Remain connected to Wi-Fi in drive feature lets them use Wi-Fi hotspots when driving. Lastly, Tesla has also added three new support languages: Hungarian, Romanian, and Russian.

The irony here is stacked in multiple, juicy layers. First off, there’s the name Tesla chose for its feature: Smart Summon. Is something “smart” going to drive into the only tree on a 30-feet radius, especially if said three was in the opposite direction of where the car was supposed to go? No prizes for getting that answer right.

7 photos

But what is Smart Summon and why did Tesla feel the need to call it that? Well, it’s supposed to be an evolution of the (dumb) Summon. An upgrade. Whereas Summon will extract the car from the garage or a parking lot over a short distance, Smart Summon should do the same thing, but over much longer distances and execute more complicated maneuvers in the process. In theory, Smart Summon should allow you to step out of the mall and have the car pick you up instead of the old way of having to walk all the way to the vehicle.

Like most things Tesla – not its performance, though – the Smart Summon feature is in Beta, which means you use it at your own peril. The good thing is the owner needs to keep their finger pressed on the display of their phone for the car to move. Lift the finger, and the vehicle stops instantly. The bad news is the vehicle can make very sudden and unpredictable moves that can beat the owner’s reaction time and result in costly repair bills.

The system is also notorious for failing to pick up curbs and, apparently, thin vertical objects like poles or trees – hopefully not stationary slim people as well. Sadly for Tesla, the vehicle is very likely to encounter all these things in a parking lot, which is where the feature will be used for most of the time.

Back to the irony we mentioned at the start of the article, here’s the second part. The owner of the Model Y you’ll see in the clip below had purchased the Full Self-Driving suite (which includes the Smart Summon feature) only one day before he decided to give the automated parking function a try. He got it using the subscription option, meaning he only paid $200. However, that price was about to rise, as you will soon see.

With the car parked in front of a house, the owner appears to use the Smart Summon feature to have the EV reverse onto the street. A simple maneuver the AI seems to have under control. However, after reversing and turning right, it suddenly decides to steer left, which jams the right front wheel into the parking spot’s curb. With no way of going in reverse, the car switches into drive and heads forward. It starts off slowly, but then suddenly picks up speed and steers to the right at the same time, climbing over the curb and hitting a small tree.

The aftermath looks pretty bad considering it was totally avoidable, and the repair bill the Model Y owner got was $1.399.32. Add the $200 he had paid for the subscription (Tesla refused to refund him) and the $200 for replacing the film protection, and the total cost for the entire affair rises to $1,799.32. His final words? “Please do not use the Smart Summon feature.”