Is it unethical to charge extra for Autopilot (software) after we had paid for the hardware?

[Thomas Edison]

OPs activity in this thread and the reported disagreements in unrelated threads in retaliation... wow, just wow.

 

[aronth5]

EAP in its current product life cycle is already baked into the $49k base you paid. The additional $6k is just to enable future development, so why lock EAP (in its current state that we all paid for), rather than charge subscription fee for future upgrades, or like you said, make them optional. This is my gripe.

Question for the OP. First did you expect the near unanimous opinion that your initial premise is incorrect?
Second, whether any of the product life cycle is already baked in the base price doesn't matter even matter. Tesla can price their product anyway they want and consumers can decide to buy a Tesla vehicle or not. Simple.

 

[sreams]

TLDR
My view is that Tesla already included all EAP costs (under the current iteration) in the $49k Model 3 sticker price. The $6k is funding to sustain continuous improvement. If this is the case, I would rather be able to access EAP now with no additional unlock fee, but pay for future upgrades in intervals (and at my discretion) instead of one lump sum to even access what I already paid for. Funny thing is once the tech evolves, they will likely charge us again - so how far does the $6k truly go?

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If we had already been charged for software and hardware of EAP in its current release, as part of the sticker price, is it fair to charge us another $6k to unlock it. My bad on wording - should have used “greed” instead of “ethics”.

Tesla is struggling for profit and it seems sound to amortize all costs, including past and present software R&D into every vehicle sold, rather than rely on consumer adoption. Why give people the choice when you can guarantee a return? Masking that price in introductory release (from 35k to 49k) would be discrete.

To me, the $_ dollars of software they no doubt amortized into every Model 3 + $6k to unlock is not worth it as I have a short commute. It’s a great feature so YMMV, but I will pass.

That’s it from me folks, hope you all have a great long weekend. Thanks all to those with contributing comments.

Instead of all the pointless back and forth, there is a lot easier way to deal with this:

Yes. The cost of the hardware is rolled into the sticker price. Yes, they are charging you "again" to enable the software. Yes, they are doing it because they are greedy and unethical.

Now, since buying any product in a free society is a choice, choose not to purchase a Tesla and not to support their greed and lack of ethics., and instead buy a vehicle from an ethical company that doesn't charge you for anything more than what you are receiving. Problem solved. Voting with your dollars will actually have an effect, unlike this conversation.