For some reason in 2014 Elon Musk decided to promise the world that Tesla would deliver robotic charging cables, which were called a “snake“.

They never happened, despite a shameless Tesla PR stunt posting a video in 2015 claiming they were real.

In 2016 some people tried very hard not to forget a “snake” was ever promised to them.

So then… nothing. No “snake” but in 2020 Elon Musk promised them again, more emphatically lying by saying their “snake” concept was real and even would enable cars with no humans to drive across America.

Yes.

Of course there’s no “snake” at all and Tesla was incredibly stupid to not use a socket design for charging stations.

Here we are a decade later.

Snake? No.

The significance of this robot can’t be understated. It is the kind of robot that is manifestly simpler than an entire car being driverless. Tesla couldn’t figure out the “snake” so it really sets the context for all these other CEO promises of something far more complicated during the same exact period.

• 2015 December 22: “I think we will have complete autonomy in approximately two years.“
• 2016 January 11: “In ~2 years, summon should work anywhere, connected by land & not blocked by borders.“
• 2016 June 02: “I really consider autonomous driving a solved problem. I think we are less than two years away from complete autonomy.“
• 2016 October 20: “By the end of next year, said Musk, Tesla would demonstrate a fully autonomous drive from, say, a home in L.A., to Times Square… without the need for a single touch, including the charging.“
• 2017 April 30: “I think that [time to deliver technology to allow Tesla drivers to fall asleep] is about two years.“
• 2018 November 15: “Probably technically be able to [have Tesla cars drive themselves to new customers for delivery] in about a year.“
• 2019 February 20: “We will be feature complete full self driving this year. The car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up, take you all the way to your destination without an intervention this year. I’m certain of that.“
• 2020 July 09: “I remain confident that we will have the basic functionality for level five autonomy complete this year. There are no fundamental challenges remaining.“
• 2020 December 05: “I’m extremely confident that Tesla will have level five next year, extremely confident, 100%.“

None of that was true. None of it. Complete autonomy? Level five? Tesla can’t even get their “snake” to work.

Do you see why failing to deliver a basic robot to automate charging, while claiming to be on the road to do so much more in automation, really stands out as testament to why Tesla can’t deliver?

During the Q1 Earnings Call in 2020, Musk described his idea for the Robotaxi’s imminent rollout in 2021.

Without fraud there would be no Tesla.