I think we can all agree that Elon Musk is an idea person. The Tesla CEO and former DOGE head has set some pretty lofty goals for the brand’s EVs. At least for these 10 instances, Musk’s assertions for Tesla turned out to be a bit too ambitious.

From self-driving to swimming Cybertrucks, some of Elon Musk’s visions for Tesla simply didn’t happen  

Self-driving hasn’t shaken out the way Elon Musk wanted

Almost 10 years ago, Elon Musk said all Tesla’s vehicles had the necessary hardware for full self-driving (FSD). As many strides as the brand has made in autonomous vehicles, FSD is still a supervised process, miles away from level four autonomous driving.

Around that same timeframe, Musk mentioned that “Summon,” a feature that can call your EV from another location to yours, would “work anywhere connected by land and & not blocked by borders.” He cited an example wherein a driver could summon their EV from NY to LA. Today, neither “Actually Smart Summon” nor “Dumb Summon” will do that. 

In terms of safety, Musk said self-driving Teslas “will be a factor of 10 safer than a person [at the wheel] in a six-year time frame.” That was well over 10 years ago, in 2014. 

The Tesla Roadster- a blisteringly fast unicorn

Tesla originally announced that the record-breaking Roadster would roll out in 2020 and would break supercar records the very instant it reached buyers. Now, five years after that anticipated release date, the Roadster is no closer to production. 

In fact, Tesla changed its quarterly reports to reflect the Roadster going from “in development” to “design development.” 

Speaking of those Roadster-ready fans, Tesla offered second-generation Roadsters as incentives for customer referrals. But considering a production Roadster still hasn’t happened, it doesn’t look like those 60 or so qualified customers will get their EVs anytime soon, per Ryan Shaw Tech.

Beyond the jokes and disappointing sales, the Cybertruck has missed the mark in more than a few ways

Then there’s the Tesla Cybertruck. Originally, Elon Musk and the powers-that-be at Tesla said the top-spec, tri-motor Cybertruck was supposed to come in under $70,000 and get a spectacular 500-mile range. Tesla fell short of that goal by about $30,000 and 180 miles.

Even though “Cyberbeast” topped out at an estimated 320 miles, Tesla proposed a bed-mounted range extender. Elon Musk’s Tesla said that the setup would push the tri-motor truck’s range to over 440 miles. But Tesla canceled the range extender, offering refunds for deposits. 

Now, the hulking Cybertruck is available with FSD, but Autosteer isn’t available and won’t be. This development had owners who didn’t opt for FSD angry, given Autosteer was included in the purchase agreement, per Electrek.

Finally, and perhaps most comically, Elon Musk once said Cybertruck is “waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes, and even seas that aren’t too choppy.” It’s a cool concept, but one debunked by instances of owners getting stuck or even sinking their Cybertrucks at boat launches.