Mark Rober just set up one of the most interesting self-driving tests of 2025, and he did it by imitating Looney Tunes. The former NASA engineer and current YouTube mad scientist recreated the classic gag where Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel onto a wall to fool the Road Runner.

Only this time, the test subject wasn’t a cartoon bird… it was a self-driving Tesla Model Y.

The result? A full-speed, 40 MPH impact straight into the wall. Watch the video and tell us what you think!

    • waywardninja@sh.itjust.works
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      16 hours ago

      Why not? Seems fitting an ex NASA engineer show Elon, the man currently trying to dismantle NASA, just what kind of intelligent people exist in that agency.

        • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          16 hours ago

          Mark Rober is what you get when you cross veritasium with Mr beast. Someone who’s genuinely smart but they’re going to leave all that stuff out because they want the bigger audience

          • Chozo@fedia.io
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            15 hours ago

            Mark Rober is what you get when you cross veritasium with Mr beast.

            I hate that this makes as much sense as it does.

      • lepinkainen@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        He shouts all the time. My theory is that the shouty style works for younger US audiences.

        For a non-American it’s grating AF.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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        16 hours ago

        There’s something about his presentation style I just can’t stand. Just the epitome of the “hey what’s up guys” approach.

        • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io
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          11 hours ago

          His target audience is teenagers, so that’s what you get. I think having a guy like him teach kids about LiDAR and stuff in an entertaining way is a win.

          But yeah, as a 30 year old I agree he’s a bit too much.

        • Chozo@fedia.io
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          15 hours ago

          I think that’s largely because he wants to make his channel as kid-friendly as possible. If you watch some of his real early videos, he has a much calmer, more lecture-like demeanor without all the goofy edits and other modern YouTube tropes.

          His other big business venture is a subscription box for kids, which I think it aimed for around 8-13 year olds, so I imagine he’s adopted his current personality to try to appeal to that audience.

        • MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net
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          16 hours ago

          I love some of the stuff he does (the hot wheels race is absolute gold), but I agree. He’s only leaned further into the cringe since launching crunch labs.

          • Dhs92@programming.dev
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            16 hours ago

            To be fair, he seems to be targeting kids with his content now. Anything to get kids interested in STEM early is a win in my book.

        • SwizzleStick@lemmy.zip
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          16 hours ago

          It’s very modern, cheesy & spoon-feedy. Lots of staging. Overly friendly. Like it is filmed with the approval and oversight of HR.

          I know what you mean. He does some amazing things, but I tend to stick to the highlights rather than sit through whole videos. This one, the elephant toothpaste vid, and others like it can be watched as a 15 second clip if you just want to see the hook.

          It clearly works for his target audience, so I can respect sticking to the formula.