I'd like to make the case that the current pricing model for Autopilot and FSD needs to change fundamentally from the current paradigm of the software being considered part of the car - transferring with the car upon sale - to a model more like personal computer software (licensed to the user not to the computer). I believe the current model is problematic in several ways, is contributing to a lot of the pricing discontent for current owners, and will ultimately hurt sales - specifically repeat or loyalty sales - in the long run.
Take the standard licensing model for computer software as an example. Because software is licensed to the user, we are free to upgrade our computers to newer and better models and we don't have to re-license the applications, some of which might be very expensive! If everyone had to do this they would almost certainly delay upgrading hardware as long as possible. Computer sales would quickly stagnate.
AP/FSD IS NOT THE CAR, it's software that works on a given platform. I think conflation of these two things is part of what we see fueling a lot of anger on these forums and some negative press. The price of FSD software goes down and people are angry because they feel their CAR has lost value. Other pricing issues surrounding software, or issues over the value of the software, have leaked over into reporting about the CAR and people's feelings about the vehicle in general, when they should be two separate things. As far as future sales are concerned, current Tesla owners may very well delay new car purchases, which they might otherwise have made, if they have to purchase the software all over again to retain the same functionality. For resale, this model creates an unnecessary difficulty since the buying pool for any given car is reduced by the number of potential buyers who don't want Autopilot or FSD, because it's currently married to the car.
Instead, we should license the software we want from Tesla, perhaps with free updates as improvements are made, but only for x time (like computer software), and take it with us to a new vehicle if we wish, or transfer it with the car if we don't want it anymore. Everyone knows what they're buying, no one needs to be concerned that the value of their vehicle has been affected after the fact by software or software pricing changes, plus if something really terrific comes along down the road, feature-wise, owners may cough up more cash to upgrade, producing future revenue for Tesla. This list is far from exhaustive.
It may be that I'm missing something important, but I see only benefits from making this change. Thoughts?
Take the standard licensing model for computer software as an example. Because software is licensed to the user, we are free to upgrade our computers to newer and better models and we don't have to re-license the applications, some of which might be very expensive! If everyone had to do this they would almost certainly delay upgrading hardware as long as possible. Computer sales would quickly stagnate.
AP/FSD IS NOT THE CAR, it's software that works on a given platform. I think conflation of these two things is part of what we see fueling a lot of anger on these forums and some negative press. The price of FSD software goes down and people are angry because they feel their CAR has lost value. Other pricing issues surrounding software, or issues over the value of the software, have leaked over into reporting about the CAR and people's feelings about the vehicle in general, when they should be two separate things. As far as future sales are concerned, current Tesla owners may very well delay new car purchases, which they might otherwise have made, if they have to purchase the software all over again to retain the same functionality. For resale, this model creates an unnecessary difficulty since the buying pool for any given car is reduced by the number of potential buyers who don't want Autopilot or FSD, because it's currently married to the car.
Instead, we should license the software we want from Tesla, perhaps with free updates as improvements are made, but only for x time (like computer software), and take it with us to a new vehicle if we wish, or transfer it with the car if we don't want it anymore. Everyone knows what they're buying, no one needs to be concerned that the value of their vehicle has been affected after the fact by software or software pricing changes, plus if something really terrific comes along down the road, feature-wise, owners may cough up more cash to upgrade, producing future revenue for Tesla. This list is far from exhaustive.
It may be that I'm missing something important, but I see only benefits from making this change. Thoughts?
