Two university professors have criticized the design of the Tesla cybertruck, specifically its visual similarity to armored personnel vehicles that patrolled apartheid South Africa, resulting in criticism directed towards the company's CEO, Elon Musk.
Vivian Chenxue Lu and Nana Osei-Opare, both assistant professors at Rice University, published an article analyzing the design and historical significance of apartheid-era armored vehicles in Slate Magazine on Sunday.
Specifically, the two scholars noted similarities between those types of vehicles and the modern Tesla cybertruck.
"Many speculated that its inspiration had come from spaceships of science fiction. In discussing the car's aesthetic early on, Musk referenced cyberpunk and Blade Runner, a film that features sleek metallic vehicles, though with rounded silhouettes designed for aerodynamic speed," they began, acknowledging the science fiction inspirations behind the vehicle's design.
"Whether or not this was intentional, the Cybertruck's harsh, sharp edges remind us, instead, of something from the past: the larger armored personnel vehicles that patrolled streets throughout Musk's youth in apartheid South Africa," they continued.
They then continued to discuss the presence and historical significance of Casspir, mine-resistant ambush-protected personnel vehicles produced within South Africa that were deployed in Black-majority townships and neighborhoods.
Lu and Osei-Opare continue to take note of how the Casspir became an iconic symbol of the oppression sanctioned by apartheid, indicating that even children of the era memorialized these tools of subjugation by drawing and writing about them.
They also addressed how the vehicle has been advertised, bringing up the Cybertruck's launch and how Musk declared that "sometimes you get these late-civilization vibes" and that the "apocalypse can come along at any moment, and here at Tesla we have the best in apocalypse technology." Effectively, they indicate that Musk sees the vehicle as "militaristic, stainless-steel fortified, masculinist, individualistic, and unforgiving," raising concerns about an eventual evolution into an artillery vehicle.
Musk, who left South Africa in 1988, a year before he would have been conscripted into military service, has previously been accused of having ties to white supremacy after seemingly performing a Sieg Heil at President Donald Trump's inauguration rally, though his supporters have argued that the gesture was actually a Roman salute.
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