For anyone doubting buying FSD, go ahead and buy it now

[Kognos]

Really don’t think there is going to be a FSD cliff. Incremental updates that help solve aspects of the sometimes monotonous driving functions will be the path forward. Which I think is great. If you expect a switch to be flipped and your car will be full self driving tomorrow you need to re set your expectations.

Personally I’m enjoying the journey to self driving. As such I’m happy with my FSD purchase.

While this isn't a post directly focused at you, I'm going to speak to the thread in general with the responders who are saying the same thing.

In a nutshell, I agree. If I had 6k and money wasn't a factor, I'd totally get FSD. I am an early adopter, and a technologist. I appreciate everything that Tesla is doing. I "get it". But the thread is about buying it now, as if our doubts are suddenly lifted.

If FSD really worked fully, like city streets fully, then I would. But it can't manage a parking lot. It can't manage city streets. It can't shuttle my kids to school. It has an awful lot of deficiencies. My expectations are realistic, and 6k for the existing features isn't worth it to me.

And lets be realistic here, a thread saying "hey NOW it's time to jump on FSD" needs a reality check. FSD hasn't improved much at all in the last 6 months. Really, if you looked at it, smart summon is about it, and it's not even realistically usable.

 

[mswlogo]

I paid $8k for EAP/FSD on my Model 3 and all that become practical / useful was Auto Steer, user initiated lane change, lane departure assist. Later Tesla offered that for $5k when it was supposed to be $11K. On my Model X I skipped FSD and have AP (which has everything except user initiated lane change - not worth $6k). If it goes on sale again for $2-$3k I'll bite. Or it really starts to do reliable FSD, which I don't think is possible with the current set of sensors.

 

[notAnExpert]

Actually you can based on the video from autonomous investor day. That’s basically what is in development right now

It is hard for me to take such videos too seriously. Case in point... Here’s a video Tesla published in 2016:
Tesla Self-Driving Demonstration
Three years later, I’m yet to see my car do anything close to that.

 

[VT_EE]

I wish I felt as enthusiastic about FSD's current state and *immediate* future as the OP. In the 24+ hours I have had Smart Summon, I haven't felt confident enough to use it. It cuts through parking lot lines, doesn't read signs, makes wild turns, gets confused and pauses awkwardly potentially angering other drivers.

I think the only other "FSD" feature currently is NoAP, which I also turned off because I didn't find it refined enough to use.

Tesla says street sign/light recognition and city street FSD is supposed to be released "later this year". But it is hard for me to feel optimistic about such an aggressive schedule, considering current state of publicly released firmware and in general, Tesla's track record on keeping schedules.

Don't get me wrong. I'm an FSD owner, Tesla well-wisher, and a stock holder. I am optimistic that they will eventually get this all working well. But I don't feel the same level of FSD purchase urgency as the OP does.

Have you tried NoA with V10? It’s much improved and very usable now except on very crowded or short merges. Those situations are the only time I disengage.

 

[notAnExpert]

Have you tried NoA with V10? It’s much improved and very usable now except on very crowded or short merges. Those situations are the only time I disengage.

No, not yet. Thanks. I’ll give it a shot.

 

[VT_EE]

Agreed. You’re paying $6k right now for a party trick in an empty, or almost empty parking lot and the ability to change lanes on the freeway. I get the idea that more is promised down the road, but we’ve already had people sell the cars before they got any real features, probably die before seeing any real features, etc.

A subscription service with credit toward the full package seems more “beta testing” focused rather then buying a promised future. I suspect a heck of a lot of people would pay $50 a month or something to use the current features. That’s $600 a year, and if FSD takes five more years (likely at least this long) that’s a $3,000 credit towards FSD. When the car can actually drive it’s self the subscription service is ended and new buyers pay $6k to get it and people with subscription credits pay a prorated amount ($3k, etc).

For someone that does ten to twelve road trips a year is automatic lane changes worth $6,000? Hell no. Would I pay $600 a year for it... probably. Is that $600 more a year in Tesla’s pocket, yep!

That $6k also gets you NoA which I find very useful on long Interstate drives.

 

[VT_EE]

I'm on a lease so if I were to buy I'd only get use of it for 3 years. If they make major advancements to it in the next few months I'll consider it. If it's still basically where it is now in a year then no way. Not going to pay $6k for a software update to a car I don’t own on a promise of future functionality.

Now if they offered it as some sort of subscription and I could pay a much, much, smaller sum every month/year I might consider trying it out for a while and seeing how I like it.

It definitely makes no sense to purchase FSD on a lease.

 

[VT_EE]

No, not yet. Thanks. I’ll give it a shot.

Don’t set it any more aggressive than “average”. Mad Max just makes it change lanes way too often.

 

[Big Dog]

That $6k also gets you NoA which I find very useful on long Interstate drives.

The few times I've tried NoA, I found it extremely annoying. (I'll be doing 70+ in the second lane and he keeps nagging me to move to the left lanes which are less crowded -- yeah, I can see that, but: 1) I'm already dong 5+ mph over the limit and 2) I'm getting off in the next exit which is less than 2 miles away. At best, I could save a few seconds before moving back right to the exit lanes.

And, on long interstate drives (I-5 for me in Central Cal), its a choice of lane 1 or lane 2. Not hard to decide based on where the 18 wheelers are rolling!

But, since I see that I just updated to v32, I'll give NoA another try.

 

[happyzod]

The few times I've tried NoA, I found it extremely annoying. (I'll be doing 70+ in the second lane and he keeps nagging me to move to the left lanes which are less crowded -- yeah, I can see that, but: 1) I'm already dong 5+ mph over the limit and 2) I'm getting off in the next exit which is less than 2 miles away. At best, I could save a few seconds before moving back right to the exit lanes.

And, on long interstate drives (I-5 for me in Central Cal), its a choice of lane 1 or lane 2. Not hard to decide based on where the 18 wheelers are rolling!

But, since I see that I just updated to v32, I'll give NoA another try.

You want to set the lane change aggressiveness to lowest setting. The lane change still sucks. Not assertive/fast enough.

 

[boriszima]

I paid $8k for EAP/FSD on my Model 3 and all that become practical / useful was Auto Steer, user initiated lane change, lane departure assist. Later Tesla offered that for $5k when it was supposed to be $11K. On my Model X I skipped FSD and have AP (which has everything except user initiated lane change - not worth $6k). If it goes on sale again for $2-$3k I'll bite. Or it really starts to do reliable FSD, which I don't think is possible with the current set of sensors.

I bought FSD a month ago. I also had EAP but i dont feel I got anything extra yet thats worth it. As others said, advances summon is just a "party trick" quiet many videos shows errors. I am hopeful with many data points coming in, system will get better

Looking back for me, i am still neutral on whether upgrading from EAP to FSD is worth it. Going from AP to FSD gets you features, but it is expensive.

Time will show.

 

[RickW]

I would love FSD, but not for 6k. For me with my new Tesla, I would spend money protecting the paint with PPF, Ceramic coating and getting a tint.

Maybe Elon will make a holiday drive by decreasing the price significantly for a month. I also think it would be feasible for Musk to make a loan program (1-2 years) for financing for FSD. This might also help with adoption.

 

[Uncle Don]

If you give me $9000 I will buy FSD. $3000 for AP then $6000 for FSD. I drive just fine on my own. No way will I pay $9000 to automate something I've been doing fine for over 40 years.

As for Smart Summon: a useless gimmick for people to lazy to walk 200 feet to their car. If somebody paid me to use it I wouldn't.

 

[whatthe2]

If you give me $9000 I will buy FSD. $3000 for AP then $6000 for FSD. I drive just fine on my own. No way will I pay $9000 to automate something I've been doing fine for over 40 years.

As for Smart Summon: a useless gimmick for people to lazy to walk 200 feet to their car. If somebody paid me to use it I wouldn't.

Or, $7k ($5k for EAP and $2k for FSD) for features that are awesome. You could also Fred Flintstone the car and use something you’ve been doing for 40 years. Worth it to me, obviously not you.

 

[Fernand]

S.O.M.

 

[RickW]

I understand the above. I really have no qualms about FSD. I think that Tesla is paving the way for the future. I just think that the price is a little steep. I do believe that it needs to get more adoption which is why I think that Musk needs to decrease the price. The more drivers adopting the FSD options, the more data that can be extracted to make it better.

Why should it be done? Well, I ran into a great quote from someone on Youtube yesterday who responded to the refrain that people were just too lazy to walk over to the car. They retorted that TV's didn't have remote controls for many years and that laziness spurned that effort also. Good one. .

 

[Dan203]

They seem to be basing the price on the possibility that you'll be able to use your car to generate income in the future via the robo-taxi network. If that's the case why not offer a lower cost tier to people who are on a lease, which prohibits using the car for commercial driving, or those who are willing to opt out of the robo-taxi network.

Or better yet just sell it as a monthly/yearly service. Make it cheap now then raise the price as features are added and improved. I'd be willing to pay $10-15/mo for what it offers now, maybe more as the features improve.

 

[Fernand]

Robotaxi on city streets is a ways off, so to recoup the FSD upgrade I'm setting up a paid Advanced Summon parking lot shuttle for when the rains start, with in-car virtual fireplace and a warm toddy mini-bar using one of those thermoelectric "mini-fridges".

I was thinking Costco at first, but Neiman Marcus might be a better demographic.

BTW, anybody notice these mini-fridges burn 40 watts 24x7?
.

 

[Sg911]

$6k is too much for me, I'd maybe pay $3k

Tesla may have a monthly subscription option coming soon for it

 

[Sg911]

They seem to be basing the price on the possibility that you'll be able to use your car to generate income in the future via the robo-taxi network. If that's the case why not offer a lower cost tier to people who are on a lease, which prohibits using the car for commercial driving, or those who are willing to opt out of the robo-taxi network.

Or better yet just sell it as a monthly/yearly service. Make it cheap now then raise the price as features are added and improved. I'd be willing to pay $10-15/mo for what it offers now, maybe more as the features improve.

It’s not going to be $15 lol I’s guess more like $75-$100 a month plus. People paid up to $6k for it