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Woz: 'I don't believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says'

Commentary: Speaking at the Nordic Business Forum in Sweden, the Apple co-founder sounded a touch disillusioned about Tesla and its CEO.

Chris Matyszczyk
3 min read

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Steve Wozniak is suspicious of Elon Musk's promises.

Lachlan Cunningham

Steve Wozniak is rarely short of a forthright thought. With respect to Elon Musk, however, his forthrightness has turned from positive to much less so.

Only last year, the Apple co-founder insisted that Tesla, not Apple, would create the next tech moonshot.

Last week, however, Woz spoke at the Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm and seemed to offer a slightly less enthusiastic view of Tesla and its CEO.

As Business Insider Nordic reports, he participated in a Q&A, in which he explained that he'd been a Tesla fan from the very beginning.

However, he seemed disappointed that Musk doesn't always stick to his announced timelines. For example, Musk said in August 2016 that a Tesla would drive itself from LA to New York before the end of last year. That hasn't happened yet. (Although a Tesla Model 3 did manage to make that trip, driven by a human, in record time at the beginning of this year.)

Which reportedly led Woz to declare: "Now, I don't believe anything Elon Musk or Tesla says."

Woz, indeed, was critical of Tesla's self-driving capability as a whole.

"When a Tesla runs in any condition on a highway that is a little unusual -- a cone in the middle of a lane -- you have to move over. A dumb human or a smart human can easily do it, but the Tesla can't," he said, according to Business Insider Nordic. 

He insisted that Audi and BMW are ahead of Musk's company in this area.

While admitting he still loves his Tesla, Woz seemed less than confident of the promises made about future Teslas.

"I'm sure the next car will come out and Elon's promise will be that [this is the car that delivers]," he said in the report.

Representatives for Tesla declined to comment. The company has, however, admitted that the Tesla 3 is in "production hell."

Woz, though, wasn't done. He reportedly compared Musk to 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]?"

Well, he's certainly a good salesman. 

Why, only last weekend he teased a flamethrower -- which many thought was a joke, but ended up being a real thing. The same was true of Musk's Boring Company, which aims to dig tunnels to ease traffic. Many thought this was just entertainment. Now, it's quite real too.

Perhaps a bigger criticism of Musk might be that he seems to be trying to do too much at the same time. After all, he also helms SpaceX, which is more than a moonshot.

 Woz revealed last year that in addition to a Tesla Model S, he also bought a Chevy Bolt. In Stockholm, he explained how he uses them.

"We always drive the Chevy Bolt EV instead of the Tesla, every day. Except for long road trips," he said.

Well, it's just like having an iPhone and an Android phone, isn't it? And we know Woz has a lot of admiration for Android. 

Why, he once suggested that Apple release an Android phone.

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