Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is a deep skeptic when it comes to Elon Musk—and Tesla for that matter, though he still drives its cars.
Wozniak told the Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm that he had become frustrated with Musk and Tesla’s promises regarding their technology, and how the company under-delivers on that hype.
“Now I don’t believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says, but I still love the car,” Wozniak said in a Q&A session, reported by Business Insider.
In October 2016, Musk promised Tesla owners that its Model 3 cars would be able to drive themselves through cities and highways before finding a parking spot, all without human input. That was supposed to happen by the end of 2017, then it moved to early 2018, and then in December Musk fuzzed up the timeline again.
“I believed that stuff,” Wozniak lamented, before comparing Musk’s talent for hype to that of Apple’s other daddy: Steve Jobs. “What he says, can you really believe in him? Is he just a good salesman, like Jobs, and may not be there [in the end]?” he asked.
“Woz” suggested Tesla’s insistence that its self-driving features were only in beta was “kind of a cheap way out of it,” and that rivals Audio and BMW seem to be ahead of the U.S. firm on that front.
He said he and his wife use their Tesla for long-distance journeys, thanks to the company’s extensive charging network, but that GM’s Chevy Bolt EV is his choice for shorter trips.
Wozniak is not the only one to doubt Tesla’s timescales—analysts and customers alike have been frustrated by the firm’s slow rollout of the Model 3, which has been caused by production problems.
Musk recently announced that he would only draw any pay from Tesla if it hits a series of valuation targets over the coming decade, but the deal is not related to production goals.
