Poll: 81% of Prospective Model 3 Owners Say They Won’t Pay Upfront For Full Self-Driving

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It seems most prospective Model 3 owners aren’t willing to shell out cash upfront for a $3,000 “full self-driving capability” option that is likely years away from becoming available to engage.

In a poll posted by jsraw 81.3% (347) of respondents said they will not pay for the feature at purchase. Adding the option later will cost an additional $1,000. Of respondents, 18.7% said they will pay for FSD upfront.

According to Tesla’s website, FSD “doubles the number of active cameras from four to eight, enabling full self-driving in almost all circumstances, at what we believe will be a probability of safety at least twice as good as the average human driver. The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat. For Superchargers that have automatic charge connection enabled, you will not even need to plug in your vehicle.”

Elon Musk has said that level 5 autonomous driving is possible with second generation Autopilot and the FSD option, meaning the car is fully autonomous in any and all conditions. During his TED talk in April, Musk said the company plans to conduct by the end of 2017 a coast-to-coast demo drive from California to New York without the driver touching the wheel.

Obviously, there will be regulatory hurdles ahead and Musk has said it will likely be two years before owners will be able to engage FSD capability.

See a few comments on the poll below, or go to the thread here.

Swift

EinSV

jason1466

Waiting4M3

Enginerd[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

 

[siggyfreud]

I'm still a big three pedal go fast car fan, but if those cars could take care of the traffic for me I'd let them in a heartbeat. Fsd and driver engagement aren't mutually exclusive options. You can theoretically have both with this setup.

 

[JeffK]

No.
Why would I buy a luxury sport sedan only to have it drive itself? What's the fun in that?

Even a luxury sport sedan is not terribly fun to drive in stop and go rush hour traffic. Why not let a machine do the work so you can actually relax a little?

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Even a luxury sport sedan is not terribly fun to drive in stop and go rush hour traffic. Why not let a machine do the work so you can actually relax a little?

That is a good point. I haven't commuted by car for more than 5 years so I have forgotten about it...

 

[insaneoctane]

With the current poll showing 18% yes, I would imagine that S/X owners are similar, if not higher due to statistically higher discretionary income. Maybe TMC members aren't average, but even at 10% giving Tesla a free loan of $3K, that's not chump change!

 

[elmos_world]

I have a great bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you. It's a bargain, and because I like you, I'll throw in a bag of magic beans. But if you don't sign on the dotted line today, the price goes up 33% tomorrow.

The chance to get something less expensively by buying it right now certainly doesn't mean that it's a smart thing to do.

i said ONE of the main reasons why. also ill just update the software once it comes out no biggie. and since it increases the number of active cameras from 4 to 8, it may be of some benefit

 

[SageBrush]

Is it known whether EAP can be added after purchase, similar to FSD ?

 

[CTreast]

Is it known whether EAP can be added after purchase, similar to FSD ?

It is known

 

[chronopc]

Is it known whether EAP can be added after purchase, similar to FSD ?

 

[siggyfreud]

That is a good point. I haven't commuted by car for more than 5 years so I have forgotten about it...

I'm in a solid 1.5 hours of traffic everyday I go into the office (now only 3 times a week thank goodness). One of my fun cars was a boss 302, but it quickly goes from fun to tedious in 5-10mph bumper to bumper. Would have killed for an autopilot option in that

 

[dalalsid]

I voted no but if FSD features start to deviate from EAP before I buy, then yes.

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

I'm in a solid 1.5 hours of traffic everyday I go into the office (now only 3 times a week thank goodness). One of my fun cars was a boss 302, but it quickly goes from fun to tedious in 5-10mph bumper to bumper. Would have killed for an autopilot option in that

What worries me is that we are hearing so much about eap trying to kill drivers and Doing so quiet often. in my household, I'm in charge of electronics, so I've told wife that even though m3 will have eap and will eventually have fsd, she's forbidden from using eap. The stability of eap needs to be at a point where user isnt hand hovering over steering trying to take over in a moment's notice because eap saw something that's not there. I.e. no sudden highway slow downs When you're the only car On the road or swerves due to black lines on road becoming the lane markers. Since we don't have car yet, I can't be certain these are going to be issues we will encounter or we may encounter other problems I've not listed but plenty other Eap drivers have.

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

Another reason I'll be paying for fsd is this.
Nissan is releasing its Tesla Autopilot challenger in 2018 — here's what it's like to use

After reading the article about pro pilot, I can confirm it is very much similar to what I have in my 4 year old Infiniti. This is just embarrassing as not only the pro pilot is a minor stability update over my current car, there will not be any further updates to the software to make it better.

Ap2 is already better today than the pro pilot which is about to be released based on my mS and mX autopilot drives. Ap2 will continue to get better and I fully believe fsd will hit at least lvl4 few years down the road while I still own m3.

 

[Chewy3]

One of the biggest motivators for me to buy FSD at time of purchase is to ensure free upgradability if required. If Tesla discovers they HAVE to update any of the hardware to meet FSD requirements, I would assume anyone who had not already paid for FSD would have to pay for those upgrades out of pocket should they later decide to get FSD. Might end up saving more than $1000 ($3000 vs $4000) if it'll cost extra later on.

Note article of them working on new AI chips: Tesla and AMD are working on an A.I. chip for self-driving cars, source says

 

[AustinPowers]

I'm in a solid 1.5 hours of traffic everyday I go into the office (now only 3 times a week thank goodness). One of my fun cars was a boss 302, but it quickly goes from fun to tedious in 5-10mph bumper to bumper. Would have killed for an autopilot option in that

When I read stuff like that, I think "thank god for our public transport system".

I drive about fifteen minutes (both ways combined) to and from the station each day, and for the rest I use the train. Comfortable, fast, reliable. Plus time to read a good book, magazine, or whatever. Relaxing actually.

For the few times a year I go on the Autobahn and might get stuck in a traffic jam, TACC would be quite satisfactory. Don't need FSD at all and certainly don't plan on getting it on my Model 3. Even might skip EAP and rather spend the money on the PUP or the dual motor config, once it becomes available.

 

[PrGrPa]

When I can eventually order a RHD model 3 I'll be going for EAP but not for FSD unless it is a reality by then. In that case I'd go for it in a flash.

 

[PrGrPa]

What the hell is FSD?????? Why do people use abbreviations/accronyms and assume that everybody knows what the hell they are talking about. If you want to reference AWD, do it correctly 'All Wheel Drive (AWD)', Premium Upgrade Package (PUP), etc..

it can be confusing. But you get used to the abbreviations. To type them out in every response at first use would defeat the idea of using them. They're easy to google. "FSD" gets me every time and I now just mentally interpret it as 'autonomous driving'.

 

[PrGrPa]

Yes.

I am looking forward to experiencing new FSD features (for example stop sign and stop light recognition) as they are released, which I think will likely begin some time this year.

I don't expect complete "Full Self Driving" at first but that Tesla will start by releasing additional features that will require driver supervision and go from there.

Sign and light recognition are only going to be part of FSD? oh ? I'd have expected those to become part of the 'driver assistance' of EAP. It'd be a step forward just for regular driving to have speed sign recognition and display since the current speed limit DB is a bit inaccurate at times.

 

[R.S]

I see Tesla maximizing profit. Even if they recouped all the development costs, I don't think that they will lower the price, rather they would increase margins. If FSD works, it will be more than $3K in the future. The only thing that would drive the price point down is competition.

But that assumes that Tesla will have no competition, which is somewhat unlikely. Not to speak about Google, but the Mercedes AP competing system seems to be equally good right now and Audi's A8 even achieves level 3 autonomy.

What I could see it Tesla retroactively increasing the price on the FSD upgrade for existing buyers. but I'm not sure if that could be considered fraud, not a lawyer.

I think that they install it on every car to enhance the collective learning of the fleet. As far as profit vs volume, look at what they have chosen to do with the LR. They took a 25kW upgrade and chose to sell it at about 60% profit margin (maybe more). The economies of scale of the gigafactory would allow them to sell it too many more people. But, who else offers a 300+ mile range EV? No competition, so we see very high margins.

That's the case for almost any option of any car maker. We don't even know how much more the bigger battery really costs. But just compare the BMW 320i to the 330i, the 330i both are RWD and come with a "2.0-liter BMW TwinPower Turbo inline 4-cylinder engine". Those might be slightly different, but the price difference between those cars is 5k, which is probably way more than it costs BMW to transform a 320i to a 330i. Still, the 330i has a lot of competitors.

 

[siggyfreud]

When I read stuff like that, I think "thank god for our public transport system".

I drive about fifteen minutes (both ways combined) to and from the station each day, and for the rest I use the train. Comfortable, fast, reliable. Plus time to read a good book, magazine, or whatever. Relaxing actually.

For the few times a year I go on the Autobahn and might get stuck in a traffic jam, TACC would be quite satisfactory. Don't need FSD at all and certainly don't plan on getting it on my Model 3. Even might skip EAP and rather spend the money on the PUP or the dual motor config, once it becomes available.

Our public transport here isn't bad, but it simply doesn't go to the destination I need to in efficient order. It would take me quite a bit longer than 45 minutes to get to work relying on public transport, even if I drove half way and then caught a bus (or 2-3 in this case). In fairness, where I live vs. where I work isn't an especially common situation.

 

[siggyfreud]

What I could see it Tesla retroactively increasing the price on the FSD upgrade for existing buyers. but I'm not sure if that could be considered fraud, not a lawyer.

Would be perfectly legal if they person hadn't purchased FSD yet. The only thing illegal would be you having bought it, them deciding they want more money, and disabling it until you pay more to reactivate it. But just because you bought the car doesn't entitle anyone to a specific price for FSD in the future.