At the moment, they hand out popcorn. Do you want popcorn? (beep boop) Here please take it from my robotic hand.
It’s a pretty cool looking place, I must say. The “retro-futuristic” menu means time back and then forward again, which means it’s a standard now menu…just to translate for you.
The one robot works like a Waymo, with a drink shelf embedded into the back of its head. They load a drink into the shelf, it drives out - avoiding traffic - finds the table, turns around so that the customers have access to the shelf, and then leaves.
I should probably know this, but: are Tesla charging stations usable only by Teslas (and not by other electric vehicles)? I did some searching and see some sources saying that other brands could use the Tesla stations in some cases, but I didn’t find anything really definitive.
(Obviously exclusivity is what we would expect of Musk, but on the other hand he does have investors who might think that a greater degree of interchangeability among charging options for various brands would be more profitable.)
Now I’m envisioning Apple electric cars that have to be charged at Apple charging stations.
Starting last year, Tesla has been opening their network to other vehicles.
Within the last year, most manufacturers started using the NACS (North American Charging Standard) connector created by Tesla, so you just need the Tesla app to charge. Older vehicles without a NACS port need an adapter (which many manufacturers have provided for free to people who bought a car before the switch).
Thanks. Some sort of adapter/app situation does make sense, rather than having no interchangeability.
I hear China makes about 2/3 of the world’s electric vehicles. I’d guess that they have a single standard, but of course that’s one virtue of a command economy…
And rather little existing infrastructure. So much greenfield; so little brownfield.
They do, but it’s more a case of planning ahead.
The US has more or less now coalesced around NACS. Japan has its own de facto. Europe is going a small number of ways. We may all eventually settle on one, but each major region is finally getting to something resembling stability.
It was kind of like phone chargers. Things were eventually going to settle on one standard or another (and/or a mix plus an adapter to a de facto standard), but it took a while.
I don’t like the look of it. It’s like you’re in an especially clean automotive shop. The “food” is basically snacks and doesn’t even look very good.
If I had to charge my car, I might plug in there. But I’d walk down the street to someplace better to eat. Lots of good places to eat in WeHo with more pleasant ambience.
You’re not the only one who didn’t care for the aesthetic. I can’t find the article anymore, but one reviewer noted that everything was in black and white and it missed the red leather you’d associate with a real retro diner. It missed the mark.
This is how several family restaurants in Japan work (e.g. something like Denny’s). The automated waiter has several shelves in the back and drives around the restaurant until it reaches the right table and you take your food off of it and push a button for it to return. It does stop and avoid other people/robots while playing music and since you order using a tablet (or some places using your phone) it is a very automated experience. And yes, it has been around for years.
//i\\
And they want 13 bucks for that crappy looking hot dog?
They also want $12 for 4 strips of bacon which, of course, is named “Epic Bacon” because Elon’s sense of humor is stuck in 2012 reddit for some mind addled reason.
Seems legit:
Stranger
That’s completely normal and nothing worth chewing on Tesla for. A friend used to have his own photography studio and did some commercial work for restaurants. Food photography is always very carefully staged. In the old days hamburgers would be hollowed out and propped up in back with toothpicks so they would sit evenly and then misted or deliberately under-cooked to make them look more juicy.
Elon sucks, but making his food look more appetizing in photos than in real life is not why 
.
I’ll also point out that so-called “millionaire’s bacon” is a common side order at more upscale froufrou breakfast places. And more than a few big city diners. Typically being 4 slices of thick-cut bacon heavily maple-cured and heavily peppered. Then baked, garnished with some chopped herbs, and sometimes a thinned maple syrup drizzle.
At one of my local eateries that sells for IIRC $8.95. And is really tasty. Of course it’s served by a cute 20yo human and comes on a real crockery plate. The pic of Elon’s product looks just like that except vertical not horizontal. I guess the wait-bot and paper container are worth the extra $3.05. Or cost of living difference between urban San Fran and urban Miami.
You’re paying for the “experience”.
Urban WeHo.
Oh. That’s gotta be cheaper than down here. I guess the extra money is tips for the bots.