Self-Driving or Not?

[scottysize]

I pick up my Tesla M3 next Saturday August 4th. I had no plans on getting Self-Driving as it probably won't be available until 2020 or so, but now Elon and tweeting that some SD features will be available in August, so now I'm thinking I should get the SD for $3k instead of paying $5k later. Thoughts?

 

[Dr. J]

I voted "no," but if there's something other than vapor announced in August, I'll probably change my mind.

 

[derekmw]

I think Tesla announced the August launch because people just aren't buying it. People have been burned over and over buying FSD with no actual delivery. So to try to convince people, they state FSD features are starting, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just 1 basic/useless feature that is also stated that it's BETA (in other words, it barely works and if anything happens, it's all your fault)

 

[ybbor]

Get it now so you can be first in line for the class-action suit if they don't deliver.

 

[Butane]

It depends on how much you believe in Tesla's ability to deliver on promises and how long you plan on keeping the car. A lot of people with December 2016 AP2.0 leases that paid for it are rightfully pissed they'll see no value for 2 years or more.

If you're keeping the car for many years though, probably worth it just for the bits of self driving feature Tesla will segment into FSD. I'd be willing to bet that whatever is coming "this August" will be fiercely debated here as to whether it should actually be an EAP feature or is really FSD.

For my wife and me, it wasn't worth getting with the car (early June delivery.) We decided truly hands off, pay-no-attention-to-the-road Interstate driving would be worth $5-6k, with the expectation that we'd have time to recover from buying our most expensive car ever before it became available. So despite the price increase, we're still OK. Might have saved $2k if we'd just bought in when we got the car, but A) Elon hadn't made the August announcement and B) I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I voted "no," but if there's something other than vapor announced in August, I'll probably change my mind.

I've ordered a "stripped" D so I'm assuming I have until the end of Aug to decide on the $3K FSB. Whatever they roll out in Aug, if they roll out anything, needs to move past "not vapourous" for me, it needs to be "feature I'll regularly and eagerly use". The past pain of customers buying EAP/FSB and getting nada from Tesla for months-to-years has got to count for something in the math of whether to take a "maybe someday" leap.

 

[xpitxbullx]

What’s upsetting is I saw a video of a level 5 autonomous Model S (probably owned by the company) and we don’t have near that level yet.

 

[JeffK]

What’s upsetting is I saw a video of a level 5 autonomous Model S (probably owned by the company) and we don’t have near that level yet.

That was a hardware demo, showing that the hardware was capable of FSD, it wasn't a software demo and I think that distinction confused a lot of people.

Also let's carefully digest this tweet
Elon Musk on Twitter

That issue is better in latest Autopilot software rolling out now & fully fixed in August update as part of our long-awaited Tesla Version 9. To date, Autopilot resources have rightly focused entirely on safety. With V9, we will begin to enable full self-driving features.

V9 is coming in August... it does not mean it will come with FSD features. V8 was released in 2016 for perspective and we are still on V8.x

 

[T-Will]

Keep in mind that if you do a lot of freeway driving, you may get most of what you need just with EAP (on-ramp to off-ramp, smart summon, self-park). If you need it to navigate city streets (which probably won't happen for a while) then you'll need FSD.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Get it later.

1) It does nothing now
2) It might never do anything
3) If it ever amounts to anything you won't care that it's $5k.

 

[RDoc]

Invest the money in TSLA stock. If they actually come out with real FSD, TSLA will go through the roof and you'll make more than enough to buy it later. If Tesla goes bankrupt you'll lose your investment, but you'd have also lost it buying vaporware FSD.

 

[kengchang]

The 2K difference afterward shoved me into getting it.

 

[AtlasReardan]

I decided to buy it because...

 

[jsrawa]

I said yes and I have configured with it because I think once the features are actually active it will be even more $$$. I also think it will grandfather you into free hardware upgrades if needed. Taking a gamble but I think it will pay off eventually.

 

[Canikony]

I have my doubts true FSD will be available within the next 5-10 years so I don't think it's worth it at all. When/if it ever comes, the Model 3 will be so antiquated that you would rather just sell it and buy the new version of this or some other car that has it.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I pick up my Tesla M3 next Saturday August 4th. I had no plans on getting Self-Driving as it probably won't be available until 2020 or so, but now Elon and tweeting that some SD features will be available in August, so now I'm thinking I should get the SD for $3k instead of paying $5k later. Thoughts?

If you are expecting useful features, I doubt it will be worth it. If you are hoping for entertainment with a front row seat watching a baby driving AI grow up, it will be well worth it.

I bought FSD every time because I want the entertainment and $3K isn't much considering the price of the vehicles. And besides, if you don't care about the entertainment value, why not just buy a Bolt?

 

[Glamisduner]

I went ahead and bought it. Maybe a bad idea, but I just wasted $4500 to get a colors and wheels I want, so $3000 for extra driver assisted updates / possible FSD in the future seemed like a no brainier.

Now if I had been more reasonable and bought a black car with black interior and aeros and RWD and only added autopilot, I would probably skip FSD and boom I just saved a bunch of money.

I'm hoping to keep mine more than 5 years, and hope it won't be falling apart by then.

Another way to look at it is that EAP + FSD + Paint choise (or interior choice) is free after tax credits

Another push towards getting it was that if FSD is released I think it will help resale value (already being activated), but that's a big maybe, especially if I put 150k on it in 5 years.

On the flip side, why not ditch EAP + FSD + wheels and get a performance model. That software unlock works now and will certainly help resale value, but EAP + FSD would be 11k to activate later...

 

[scottysize]

I said yes and I have configured with it because I think once the features are actually active it will be even more $$$. I also think it will grandfather you into free hardware upgrades if needed. Taking a gamble but I think it will pay off eventually.

That's also my thinking. Right now they say it's $5k later, but what's to stop them from saying, that it takes more to upgrade to FSD now, so you need to give us more.

 

[scottysize]

Get it later.

1) It does nothing now
2) It might never do anything
3) If it ever amounts to anything you won't care that it's $5k.

All of those reasons are why I didn't configure it with FSD.

 

[timk225]

Don't let Tesla bully you into buying FSD now just because they want more money later. Why does it cost more later? It is somehow more difficult to change a 0 to a 1 in the computer that way?

Do this. When FSD is ready, call up Tesla and say "Hey Tesla, I will buy FSD, but I am only offering the original $3000 and not this BS arbitrary higher $5000 price you want for it because I already have the car. Deal or no deal?".