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Love 'em. Always looking forward to the next one.
Other car makers have talked about over the air updates but does anyone other than Tesla currently offer them?
So, not all "secret gems" are fun to find.I love being able to test the beta software that Tesla provides. Always funny to find the new "secret gem" in their software..
It's good if you have a newer Tesla. If you don't...
Go to threads from owners of 85-90 kWh battery packs and you'll see everybody's dreading the updates because Tesla has lately decreased peak power and range of some of those battery packs.
On top of that, a couple months ago they did an update that took launch mode and max battery mode away completely in P85D and P90D cars. It took them months to fix it. Can you imagine having paid for a crazy expensive performance vehicle but not being able to use the performance features for months because of the amazing OTA updates that "keep your car new"?
It's also bad for MCU1 owners. The new interface is considerably slower than the old interface. (Even for MCU2 owners, I'd also argue that the new interface is just inferior to the old one, but that one is my subjective opinion)
I've had a 85D (AP1, MCU1) for the last 2 and a half years and underwent countless updates. To be completely fair, I don't think I've liked any update. The interface just got slower and slower, and I am not sure this all added anything to my experience. The big nav update was maybe an overall positive change (only because now it shows exit numbers) but apart from that and some non-serious stuff like games and fart mode, I don't have any positive experience with updates, but I have plenty of negative ones. In fact, if I could go back to the software version my car originally came in, I would.
There have been no updates to AP1 during this time either, AP1 is of course forgotten. (I've heard that the latest update actually changes the lane changes in AP1 but haven't tested it)
So all in all, I think the older cars lack the hardware completely to receive any significant new features like AP updates, sentry mode, etc. But they do receive the interface updates to keep them "up to date", but those updates are developed with the newer MCUs (and, frankly, the Model 3) in mind and do nothing good for the old cars, just slows them down.
It sounds good in theory, but in practice it works out more negative than positive.
I apply updates because I want security updates, but usually dread what they might have broken, slowed down, or limited now. I wish Tesla would complete a product before shipping it,then offer bugfix/security patches only for that car (new cars, sure, create a new generation of software with new features, but don't force it on older cars). But that is not their business model.
- Allows Tesla to ship unfinished product, then wither never deliver or deliver something super underwhelming, basically if you knew what it was going to be and when, you'd have never paid for it
- Adds bugs, sometimes dangerous ones, sometimes causing damage. In 6 years of owning Teslas, had one very close call, and one actual broken mirror ($600) due to an OTA update
- As Tesla improves their hardware, the old hardware is forced to run software written for the new hardware, so it runs slow, and if form factor changes the new UI is forced and not designed for best user experience. Also, new bugs take months to fix on old hardware, if ever (e.g. browser was broken on v9 for MCU1 for many months) - if it doesn't affect new car sales, it's low on Tesla priority list.
- Because Tesla doesn't test their stuff exhaustively, they've been known to neuter their existing products post sale via OTA, for example cutting max range, power, and/or charging speeds as they learned over time that things break
- Gives Tesla the excuse of "OTA update will fix it", which they try for everything, even the yellowing screens.
Actually, bought 4 of them, but don't see myself buying any more*. Like many excited new owners today, I saw OTA as a positive at first. It took a few years to learn all the lessons about OTA I shared here.So you are aware of this stuff but you have bought three Tesla's. Seems to me that if I was so unhappy with that, I wouldn't be buying their cars. You have a choice. You are already an informed consumer, well aware of Tesla's business model, but you continue to purchase their cars.