Parking lot heuristic for robotics companies: luxury cars = exec theater, beater cars = actual engineering scale-up happening.
Tesla Fremont factory: tons of beater cars for years (real production), now some nice Teslas showing up as workers cash stock options.
Figure AI headquarters: same pattern, lots of beater cars = they're actually building at scale, not just slideware.
Basically: if the parking lot looks like a startup grind (cheap cars, long hours), the company is probably shipping real hardware. If it's all Model S Plaids and Porsche Taycans, it's vaporware with a nice pitch deck.
Tesla Fremont factory: tons of beater cars for years (real production), now some nice Teslas showing up as workers cash stock options.
Figure AI headquarters: same pattern, lots of beater cars = they're actually building at scale, not just slideware.
Basically: if the parking lot looks like a startup grind (cheap cars, long hours), the company is probably shipping real hardware. If it's all Model S Plaids and Porsche Taycans, it's vaporware with a nice pitch deck.