Early Access Program - gone.

[Garlan Garner]

I sent an email to the Early Access Program folks at Tesla and found out that it is no longer in existence.

EAP was supposed to be a bonus for those who purchased their model 3's early. Oh well.....

 

[run-the-joules]

I sent an email to the Early Access Program folks at Tesla and found out that it is no longer in existence.

Surely by now you know not to actually believe anything told to you by Tesla, ever.

EAP was supposed to be a bonus for those who purchased their model 3's early. Oh well.....

Technically it was supposed to be for those of us gullible enough to buy FSD any time before the price drop back in Q1 of this year. Buuuuuuuuuuut they wanted to be consistent with not actually delivering on anything involving FSD and decided to make that a lie, too.

 

[toolman335]

I just don't understand buying FSD. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[Krugerrand]

I just don't understand buying FSD. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Understandable. One can not know that which they have not experienced.

 

[run-the-joules]

I just don't understand buying FSD. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Yeah, well, I used to be optimistic and had faith in Tesla and took them at their word that it'd be more expensive later. I figured they'd release an FSD-only feature or two within a year or two and I'd be happy with the purchase (but not L4 autonomy any time soon. I still don't think we'll see full L5 within my lifetime, either).

Then came the price drop.

Then came the early access program invitation lie.

Now we're seeing that they're going to totally mismanage the HW3 upgrades.

As a result, I'm cynical and bitter and completely exhausted any reservoir of goodwill I had for Tesla. Pretty sad, really.

 

[M109Rider]

Surely by now you know not to actually believe anything told to you by Tesla, ever.



Technically it was supposed to be for those of us gullible enough to buy FSD any time before the price drop back in Q1 of this year. Buuuuuuuuuuut they wanted to be consistent with not actually delivering on anything involving FSD and decided to make that a lie, too.

Tesla is still really a new auto maker trying to change the norm, challenged with staying alive and profitable, with so many organizations, commissions, short sellers, and industries, trying to take him down to preserve an old profitable system.

Prices have gone up, prices have gone down, directions have changed, features promised have changed, delivery dates have been missed, and they have done this to stay alive and profitable. Not great, but it has happened.
I don’t believe for a minute that they were done maliciously though.
Yet, they were decisions made, and many don’t like it. Some are very valid concerns. We ALL get it.

You See Tesla as a big lie, trying to take you for a financial ride. That’s your opinion, and that’s okay too.

I’ve had financial hits in the past as well. I’ve even had people maliciously lie to me for their personal gain. Yes, it has happened.

But to prevent ulcers, and avoid becoming a lifer and a bitter old guy, I decided to move on with my happy life, and I LET IT GO.

Some advice; If you hold on to every life experience that isn’t perfect, you will eat up from the inside.
You could focus on the many free OTA upgrades you received, you could focus on the fact that you’re driving a car you still love. I mean if you’re happy with the car, and you have said you are, when will you let this personal bitter quest go?

Is this your “I’ve chosen Tesla as my pick your battles quests”. ?

The fact that you are STILL beating the “I’ve been done wrong” drum, and fishing for support, tells me you need something more.

You aren’t going to get money back. You likely won’t get what you’re looking for from the early access program either.

So what are you going to do next ?

 

[run-the-joules]

You aren’t going to get money back. You likely won’t get what you’re looking for from the early access program either.

I won't care about any of that if I actually get something in exchange for the money I paid for FSD. But I don't expect them to actually roll out any FSD-only features any time soon and if they do, I don't expect them to actually do the computer upgrade necessary to use it before I'm ready for a new car because I have no faith in them being capable of managing the upgrade program needed to do the swaps.

You aren’t going to get money back. You likely won’t get what you’re looking for from the early access program either.

So what are you going to do next ?

Full honesty?

I'll continue hoping Audi steps up their autonomy game and brings out something that is better than Autopilot, and I'll go back to that abusive relationship.

In a practical sense? I'll continue griping about Tesla's mismanagement of everything related to FSD and how all of their products have crappy seats more appropriate for a lower class of car than they're pricing at.

Then I'll buy a Model Y in about 18 months or whenever I can buy one from inventory at a discount during end of quarter sales that supposedly don't happen but always do, and then continue griping about how Teslas have crappy seats more appropriate for a lower class of car than they're pricing at, and how I never got my HW3 upgrade in my last car and never got a single feature in return for wasting money on FSD, and that they should have let everyone in that situation get free FSD on their next car but I for some reason still bought the thing because everything on the market was worse.

After that? We'll see. Probably another Model Y, I imagine, since it doesn't appear anyone is going to do anything to actually compete with Tesla on the things that matter to me for at least 5 years, if not more.

 

[DavidElg]

It's possible the person who responded just meant that there is not currently an early access build. Even the latest update with one pedal driving saw a live release without any early access versions preceding it. I would imagine there will be future features such as auto-park which Tesla will want to roll out to EAP people first.

 

[Garlan Garner]

It's possible the person who responded just meant that there is not currently an early access build. Even the latest update with one pedal driving saw a live release without any early access versions preceding it. I would imagine there will be future features such as auto-park which Tesla will want to roll out to EAP people first.

I received an email from the EAP program people that the program is no longer in session.

I received their email after I sent them one asking about it.


Surprisingly....they responded extremely quickly.

 

[nicholb]

Can you post the text of the email?

I think there are 2 Early Access Programs.

The first one is the invitation only one Tesla uses for beta testing. The second one is the Early Access that was promised to early FSD purchasers without practical thought of how to execute it.

That second one seems to have morphed into the "Advanced" option in the software update preferences which is supposed to give you release versions first.

It could be possible they were answering the question as to the program promised to the FSD buyers and not the actual beta program.

 

[DopeGhoti]

I figured they'd release an FSD-only feature or two within a year or two

Like Navigate on Autopilot? Auto-lane-change? Auto-park? Summon? Drunk Smart Summon?

 

[run-the-joules]

Like Navigate on Autopilot? Auto-lane-change? Auto-park? Summon? Drunk Smart Summon?

Every one of those is an Enhanced Autopilot feature. I have a car from before they moved the goalposts. Those of us with Enhanced Autopilot + FSD have yet to see a single benefit for buying FSD.

 

[derotam]

The Early Access program exists when it is being used and doesn't exist when it isn't. It was all in Tesla's interest anyway so if they need users feedback on something, they will use it again.

 

[Knightshade]

Musk mentioned on the Q3 2019 investor call just over 2 weeks ago that they still hope to do an early access release of a feature-complete Full Self-Driving by end of this year... so obviously the program still exists, even if they're not running any early-access release testing right now.

 

[huangm777]

Musk mentioned on the Q3 2019 investor call just over 2 weeks ago that they still hope to do an early access release of a feature-complete Full Self-Driving by end of this year... so obviously the program still exists, even if they're not running any early-access release testing right now.

Interesting, I was musing over in another thread about how maybe they’d open up random trials when things are close to completion/maturity. You’d have to be fairly confident that it’s safe enough for random people to join.

It sounds like Tesla has been doing the rollout of Autopilot/FSD features haphazardly. If I were Elon I would have proceeded a lot more cautiously, probably only releasing one or two features at a time and only when they’ve been thoroughly tested in closed or random betas. I think paying to get in is a sorting device to ensure testers are serious, but it isn’t sold that way and that sets up the wrong expectations IMO. It’s why there are so many complaints.

But then again having these features is why Tesla is so exciting. If all we had was TACC and Autosteer it’s no different than lots of cars today.

 

[azred]

Every one of those is an Enhanced Autopilot feature. I have a car from before they moved the goalposts. Those of us with Enhanced Autopilot + FSD have yet to see a single benefit for buying FSD.

I bought FSD for my 3 and S during the “sale” six months ago. One car had EAP, the other AP so obviously I am happier I bought for the one with AP. (Autopilot without auto lane changes would suck.)


If I leased or flipped cars every three or four years, I would be really unhappy as I wouldn’t be shocked if autopilot for streets isn’t released for at least another year. My cars have all kinds of problems with “corner cases.” Admittedly, part of that situation is because I use autopilot everywhere (even though Tesla doesn’t recommend its use on streets). As much trouble as my cars have on limited street use today I can’t imagine that reading signs and stoplights is even remotely close to perfected.

 

[CharleyBC]

Early Access Program was canceled to eliminate the confusion over EAP also standing for Enhanced AutoPilot. Next they will close the Service Centers so that SC can unambiguously mean Supercharger.

 

[kbecks13]

Oddly enough, i got an email from Tesla yesterday saying Early Access was at capacity and not accepting additional participants.

Was emailing them about getting a refund for FSD, which i doubt will happen, but its still worth pushing (again).

Used Elon's tweet where he said "if you have enhanced autopilot, FSD is $2K" and i paid $3K so that aint right!

Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[arghx7]

The Early Access Program is not a benefit. It's being an unpaid beta tester with software that can potentially damage your car. You have not been swindled out of anything. It's like being a bug tester for a video game or something.

No other automaker has owners who are angry that they don't get access to software that isn't confirmed to be working correctly.

 

[toolman335]

Run the Joules is so miserable about his Tesla experience that he's going to......be one of the first people to buy a Y!
LMAO you can't make this up.

My advice is to do what I did with the 3. Wait a while to get the Y so they get the bugs worked out. Why would you want to be first in line again?

And man, unless people have money to waste why would anyone get FSD? I want to get a gambling ring going by having Tesla owners give me $1,000 in exchange for guaranteeing them that I'd pay full price for their FSD if it is worth a damn within 5 years. If not, I get $1k from all of the suckers. What you get for $6-7k right now doesn't remotely win you that bet. It's worthless.