this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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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!

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[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Mark Rober. Why did it have to be Mark Rober.

[–] waywardninja@sh.itjust.works 30 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 18 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, but I just can't stand his presentation style.

[–] sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com 50 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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 23 points 22 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.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 10 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

I don't know anything about him, what's wrong with him exactly?

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

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 1 points 8 minutes ago

It's very shouty, very dumbed down, I can't stand it. There's a few channels like that.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 19 points 23 hours ago (6 children)

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

[–] Retropunk64@lemm.ee 0 points 51 minutes ago

The hell is the "hey what's up guys" approach? That not a thing.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 21 points 22 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.

[–] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 7 points 18 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.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago

It's for kids, dude

[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 12 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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 27 points 23 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 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 2 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, clearly someone is watching, you can't deny he's successful.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org -2 points 22 hours ago

Pre-cutting the polystyrene to make it collapse in a more cartoony way