Tesla’s fork in the road was made by artist Hunter Leggitt for Burning Man 2022. As first reported by Gail Alfar in her blog, What’s Up Tesla?, Leggitt designed the giant fork art sculpture that Tesla showcased on AI Day.
The artwork, “MetaFork in the Road,” is a 30-foot tall sculpture weighing 4,500 pounds. Gail noted that the steel installation represents the classic metaphor for a deciding moment in life when one has to make a choice.
The sculpture is planned for permanent installation at Tesla’s Bay Area Autopilot and AI office in Palo Alto, California. Leggitt showcased his whimsical fork at Burning Man 2022. The sculpture is built entirely from 3/8′ and 1/2′ hot-dipped galvanized plate steel.
On his website, Leggitt said that the concept behind the installation and the idea to bring it to Burning Man was thought of four weeks before the event.
Elon Musk said that he loves the inverse poetry of making metaphors literal. “There’s a giant 30ft (literal) fork in the road outside the Autopilot office in Palo Alto,” he tweeted. Gail noted that the age of transition–the time that we are all living in, can be seen as that giant fork in the road.
“Most people today did not grow up with smartphones, but now we use smartphones every day. We did not grow up with robotaxis, and in the future, they will be commonplace. The same goes for Optimus, none of us consider daily life normal with the robot yet, but one day we may if we choose that path,’ she wrote.
Teslarati reached out to Hunter Leggitt for commentary. We’d love to know what inspired him to create the giant fork, and if we get a reply, we’ll update here.
Update: Elon Musk answered the question I had in response to our tweet sharing this article. See his tweet below.