Autopilot Still in Beta? Edmund's Review

[SP_H]

What I don’t understand is why update roll out slowly?
Tesla will allow owners to request the latest software update, Elon Musk says
In this article it say not all owners has the latest updates. I mean you pay for it. Also when certain feature is unsafe it should be fix quickly.

 

[Adm]

Autopilot is in Beta until it gets to level 5 (basically FSD) and legislation is in place that allows you to use it. Until than you'll have to take whatever Autopilot gives you.
If you think Tesla tricked you into buying an incomplete product, well, you haven't been paying attention and maybe you should have when spending $5k.

 

[voip-ninja]

Autopilot is in Beta until it gets to level 5 (basically FSD) and legislation is in place that allows you to use it. Until than you'll have to take whatever Autopilot gives you.
If you think Tesla tricked you into buying an incomplete product, well, you haven't been paying attention and maybe you should have when spending $5k.

I don't believe that Tesla have ever claimed that the Model 3 will get to level 5 FSD. With the current setup the cars are shipping with they will never be capable of level 5 more than likely... they can claim full autonomy without hitting level 5.

 

[voip-ninja]

Going back to my gaming days, I could volunteer to become a beta tester for games for FREE so that we could report bugs to the software company before they released the final version. Some people are even PAID to be beta testers.

But customers PAY Tesla to do beta testing for them. How things have changed.
AP should really be free until the final version is released IMO.

I agree! As others point out, nobody is putting a gun to our head and forcing us to buy it, but it also shouldn't cost any more to add after the sale than it costs to purchase it up front.

 

[SP_H]

Going back to my gaming days, I could volunteer to become a beta tester for games for FREE so that we could report bugs to the software company before they released the final version. Some people are even PAID to be beta testers.

But customers PAY Tesla to do beta testing for them. How things have changed.
AP should really be free until the final version is released IMO.

Totally agrees! Games are one thing no one die (except for your character), but this is real life. When bugs are reported it should be fix quickly. Also they should advertise autopilot with hands on wheel.

 

[bro1999]

Totally agrees! Games are one thing no one die (except for your character), but this is real life. When bugs are reported it should be fix quickly. Also they should advertise autopilot with hands on wheel.

What is the take rate on AP? Imagine if EVERY Tesla owner had AP...it would increase the number of bug reports and feedback exponentially, and lead to quicker updates/improvements.

But we all know why AP isn't free.

 

[Adm]

I don't believe that Tesla have ever claimed that the Model 3 will get to level 5 FSD. With the current setup the cars are shipping with they will never be capable of level 5 more than likely... they can claim full autonomy without hitting level 5.

Full autonomy = Level 5 Everything else is driver assistant. There is no such thing as partial autonomy. The car is autonomous or it isn't.

Tesla/Elon has claimed Level 5 would be possible. Model 3 is supposed to become able to go out and share your car with others to make some money while you are at work.

Anyone who spends money on FSD and does not intend to keep the car for more than 5 years, is throwing away money. Even if Tesla achieves level 5, legislation will take many years after that feature has been proven safe.

 

[Electroman]

AP should really be free until the final version is released IMO.

There is nothing called final version. There will always be improvements and there will always be an edge case that needs more work and more updates.

AP as it is right now is fantastic. You may call it beta. Tesla for legal reasons may call it beta. But it does most of what I want it to do. It is a great stress reliever. Worth every penny

 

[Julie's MS]

Agree AP should be free or at least offered at a reduced price now. I find it silly I had to purchase AP in order to have the car self park while other manufacturers give it away for free:

Honda:

 

[d21mike]

Autopilot is in Beta until it gets to level 5 (basically FSD) and legislation is in place that allows you to use it. Until than you'll have to take whatever Autopilot gives you.
If you think Tesla tricked you into buying an incomplete product, well, you haven't been paying attention and maybe you should have when spending $5k.

For Clarification. Doesn't Tesla say AUTO STEER is BETA. Not sure they say AP is BETA. I assume TACC is part of AP. Does Tesla say TACC is BETA?

 

[privater]

Right but you didn't pay $5,000 for Gmail and still don't pay anything for it.

Last time I check, Autopilot is an option, it's not a mandatory to listing price. If you talk about whether if it worth $5000, for me it worth every penny. I enjoy using autopilot everyday and can't live without it.

I agree! As others point out, nobody is putting a gun to our head and forcing us to buy it, but it also shouldn't cost any more to add after the sale than it costs to purchase it up front.

I totally agree it's a gimmick and cunning way to make more money from uninformed customers. But as a customer I understand my upfront money will goes to funding those software development and make cars better and safer.

PS: Gmail is not `free`, you accept the Google's terms and give your personal information to them for targeting advertisement.

 

[Darren Donovan]

I'm sure Tesla is doing it for a variety of reasons.

One reason stands out: because they can.

Imagine if a very, very minimal number of buyers opt to "pre pay" for this feature, would be interesting to see how Tesla would handle this.

 

[SMAlset]

Gmail was in beta for 5 years, even in beta status, it still destroys hotmail, yahoo, aol email...
I still remember it pushed the Email box capacity to 5GB instead of 5MB norm on other free services.
I personally don't care what name Tesla gives to Autopilot, as long as it works and keep updating.
If you plan to buy something absolutely perfect before release, try toyota.

Right but you didn't pay $5,000 for Gmail and still don't pay anything for it.

But then again you have to admit that Gmail's software didn't require any equipment (hard cost to Google) that the user didn't already have (the computer or device already has the necessary hardward and OS software to make it work). Not the same with the car. The camera, sensor, GPS all do need to get monitized somehow. Tesla went the route of adding it to all cars so they could simply "turn it on" when and if the owner wanted it. As opposed to having cars without the equipment and couldn't be retrofitted for the most part later preventing future drivers/owners of the car from ever getting it. The goal here is to one day be able to have FSD capability.

While there was a cost for software development time, using the google platform ensured pretty much that you'd continue to see ads and monetize it for them that way. They figured better to keep you in their ecosystem earning them $s, instead of losing the customer to some other mail program. Believe I read that they scan those gmails too. So I still see it as they used gmail to make money. Maybe not money you the user paid out of pocket but instead trading your viewing habits and personal information they could sell to others. The fact that you have to "give up" something means you still paid for it. Telsa on the other hand provides all the equipment and while they'd like to see you buy the EAP or FSD options, you can continue to own the car without paying for them but still have a pathway to getting them later. I think that's pretty nice actually and means that your car doesn't become software feature obsolete.

 

[voip-ninja]

But then again you have to admit that Gmail's software didn't require any equipment (hard cost to Google) that the user didn't already have (the computer or device already has the necessary hardward and OS software to make it work).

I think you might be heavily under-estimating from an IT perspective how big the initial outlay was to Google for the servers, storage, network infrastructure and WAN services needed to deliver a service like gmail.

It would have been in the many millions of dollars.

I'll put it to you this way. If you asked me to quickly build you a set of servers and storage and WAN to handle 10,000 users with a quota of 500GB each, it would cost well over $1M. For the # of users gmail almost immediately was supporting and to handle automated backup, etc., it would have cost much much more than that.

Because gmail is 'free' (as others point out not truly free) and you see it running as a window on your own computer it is apparently easy to forgot how much stuff has to be purchased on the backend to make it work.

 

[SMAlset]

I don't get why people pay for FSD at all until it is actually deployed. Sure, it'll be $1k more expensive to activate it, but I bet that $3k invested will be worth more than $4k when FSD actually does get the green light.

We paid for EAP on our MS and basically use just the TACC which my husband uses all the time. We did not buy FSD, believing it wasn't close to release, and decided we'd be more than willing when it is to pay the price at that time I suppose. Some people who did order it expressed online that they are happy to contribute to it's development. To each his own but nice to know it can be added later and only require a software update to the car.

As for Telsa offering a price break, you see that everywhere from pre-ordering tickets to events to other sales incentive promotions on all kinds of things. This makes me recall how when Ron Johnson tried to reform JCPenney's merchandising by elminating sales and just lowering pricing, how it was met with strong resistence. There are simply people who like sales and using coupons. Hard to explain how the mind of some works when the outcome would be the same. I see Telsa offer the discount if ordered early as doing the same for those customers who like feeling like they are getting a deal somehow.

 

[SMAlset]

I think you might be heavily under-estimating from an IT perspective how big the initial outlay was to Google for the servers, storage, network infrastructure and WAN services needed to deliver a service like gmail.

It would have been in the many millions of dollars.

I'll put it to you this way. If you asked me to quickly build you a set of servers and storage and WAN to handle 10,000 users with a quota of 500GB each, it would cost well over $1M. For the # of users gmail almost immediately was supporting and to handle automated backup, etc., it would have cost much much more than that.

Because gmail is 'free' (as others point out not truly free) and you see it running as a window on your own computer it is apparently easy to forgot how much stuff has to be purchased on the backend to make it work.

I get your point on their cost outlay. They however do stand to reap a lot of personal information on people and sell it to who knows who for years to come. And just think about it -- for them to make that kind of expenditure and "give away" the software for free, do you disagree that they must be getting something more valuable from users in return? I bet the information/analytics business is HUGE and may have already paid for that equipment. And for their part the info keeps getting updated on a daily basis so more valuable to people than say buying one of those mailing address lists that use to be popular decades ago. We're learning more now on how Facebook's info gathering has worked and the kinds of clients they sold it to (or were about to given they also wanted to amass medical data on people).

Getting back to privater's comments on Tesla's option costs, I would rather pay for something upfront I find useful. I know I'll be getting OTA updates each time they are ready to release them and the cost is covered down the foreseeable road. More like Apple's OS/iOS updates than let's say Microsoft ones that I remember from decades ago where you paid for each one. Every company has their own business model and as a Tesla owner don't have a problem with theirs. I've never enjoyed or been so intimately involved in owning a car before.

 

[cella]

We paid for EAP on our MS and basically use just the TACC which my husband uses all the time.

This is my main issue with the current EAP option. I'm not really interested in autosteer (especially the current immature version), but I do want ACC. The only way to get it in a Tesla right now is to plunk down $5000, while other car makers offer it for a fraction of that price. They should really unbundle the EAP package.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

After seeing this video there's little doubt in my mind that this will wind up being used in whatever settlement negotiation happens for that poor SOB whose model x decided it was a good idea to drive into a concrete barricade thereby killing him.

Can you point out for me when Tesla stated that it was perfectly OK to abdicate your driving responsibilities to the AutoPilot software? (Hint: Never.)

AutoPilot/TACC/AutoSteer is a tool, nothing more. You can either correctly use that tool for massive convenience or not use it at all. Both of those choices are safe. Using it incorrectly, however, is dangerous.

There are hundreds of unnamed "poor SOBs" each year that use a table saw incorrectly and lose fingers. I suppose the table saws are still in beta? The lawsuits against the table saw manufacturers will run rampant since the table didn't prevent them from injuring themselves?

It's Tesla's responsibility to make the tool as reasonably safe as possible. It's not their responsibility to ensure you aren't stupid.

 

[SMAlset]

This is my main issue with the current EAP option. I'm not really interested in autosteer (especially the current immature version), but I do want ACC. The only way to get it in a Tesla right now is to plunk down $5000, while other car makers offer it for a fraction of that price. They should really unbundle the EAP package.

Is it "they should" or "you would really like them to"? LOL. It is their business model not ours and I suspect it allows their engineers to work on all aspect of features and defray the cost. Kind of like albums and album tracks, except we are buying the option software from the manufacturer not some third party trying to make money off of it.

 

[voip-ninja]

Can you point out for me when Tesla stated that it was perfectly OK to abdicate your driving responsibilities to the AutoPilot software? (Hint: Never.)

AutoPilot/TACC/AutoSteer is a tool, nothing more. You can either correctly use that tool for massive convenience or not use it at all. Both of those choices are safe. Using it incorrectly, however, is dangerous.

There are hundreds of unnamed "poor SOBs" each year that use a table saw incorrectly and lose fingers. I suppose the table saws are still in beta? The lawsuits against the table saw manufacturers will run rampant since the table didn't prevent them from injuring themselves?

It's Tesla's responsibility to make the tool as reasonably safe as possible. It's not their responsibility to ensure you aren't stupid.

You strike me as being quite defensive about a mildly critical comment.

Drivers who are very momentarily distracted shouldn’t have to be concerned about their AP car crossing the median into traffic.

My opinion anyway and apparently the opinion of Edmund’s.