Tesla Priorities: Refine Autopilot or Fix Everything Else?

[brooklynrab]

Further to the question of whether Tesla would be better off putting all their software development chips on red (autopilot) or using some of that capacity trying to round out and perfect the functionality of the UI and UX, it looks like most other auto manufacturers are catching up on the self-driving game faster than Tesla anticipated: A $20,000 Self-Driving Vehicle Hits the Road.
The UI and UX is still a great potential differentiator for Tesla -- it would be a pity to blow this, especially with the Model 3 no more than two years away (we hope).

 

[Carl]

Probably a reason for Tesla to focus on staying in the lead with AP. It's a selling argument today (and even a trade-in argument for owners of a non AP-Model S). And Tesla will not, on the other hand, lose sales because its navigation is less good that Waze or because of some bugs in TuneIn. My 2p

 

[brooklynrab]

Carl, there is no way, two years from now, that tesla will have an appreciable "lead" over its better funded competitors in autopilot functions. It could be in the ball park. But it could have the best UI and UX, the same way Apple did four-five years ago.

 

[calisnow]

Carl, there is no way, two years from now, that tesla will have an appreciable "lead" over its better funded competitors in autopilot functions.

Why do you think this is the case? If you are a computer scientist who is working in AI then I will immediately concede your point and accept you at your word. But if you're a layman then perhaps the best position to take is that you *don't know.* None of us on the outside know with any certainty whether or not Tesla's multi-year lead in implementing a real-world autopilot and custom machine learning fleet software is building up a deep institutional knowledge about autonomous driving that its competitors will not be able to catch up to quickly - especially in the weird, rare corner cases that don't occur often and need a large fleet de-bugging over millions of miles to learn to handle reliably, but which could mean the difference between a crash or not.

The evidence seems to be that real-world use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is a bleeding edge activity not solved by simply throwing money at a problem (not that Tesla appears to be underfunded).

Witness GM's $1 billion dollar purchase of Cruise Automation last week despite the fact that GM has itself been working on autonomous driving for many years. The articles say that after GM execs privately witnessed what Cruise had accomplished they went from wanting to invest to executing an outright purchase. Something about Cruise (a 40 person start-up helmed by an MIT drop-out) and its technology made GM cough up a lot of money.

BMW's CEO is on the record recently saying that his company is "behind" (his exact word) in artificial intelligence and machine learning - and that they risk becoming a Foxconn for Silicon Valley if they don't significantly ramp-up their computer engineering talent. He also complained that Germany isn't turning out enough computer scientists.

Two years from now maybe Mobileye's fleet learning project will have caught up with what Tesla has accomplished as of early 2016. But Tesla won't stand still for the next two years.

Two years from now Tesla is likely to have a multi camera set-up capable of navigating cities, while the rest of the industry is finally shipping cars with the un-restricted autopilots that Teslas have now.

MBZ has not even announced if their 2017 E-class with its improved drive pilot is capable of machine learning in the real world, or if it is going to ship with a locked code set that isn't updated as time goes by. You would think if they had a grand fleet learning program about to launch they would be trumpeting it.

Mercedes has been working on autonomous driving in its private labs for decades, and yet the 2013 S Class auto pilot produces errors at over twice the rate of Tesla's very first 7.0 beta release and isn't capable of learning anything as time goes by - maybe the 2017 W213 e-class will be capable of learning but again, MBZ hasn't announced that capability if it is the case, and the car ships in less than 3 months.

Given the big improvement I'm seeing in my 70D on the latest build of 7.1 it's reasonable to guess that Tesla's autopilot is now producing errors at less than 30% of the rate that MBZ's 2013-2016 S-class does.

By the time Tesla ships a multi-camera autopilot the fleet of tens of thousands of Model S's and X's will have driven 10's of millions of miles on U.S. roads, building the high definition maps they've promised and training the neural networks through every kind of weird scenario.

I don't know how Tesla is improving Autopilot but its improvement in navigating marginal roads in only three months "in the wild" is almost creepy.

For you to claim that all the problems with real world reliable autopilot/semi-autonomous driving will be solved in the next 24 months and that the entire industry will be on a level playing field with its products - seems optimistic to me.

 

[calisnow]

Finally Brooklynrab - I think you worry too much. I think your desires for a better interface will come true. You're sitting here as an outsider watching an explosively growing company - we haven't the foggiest clue what is going on inside Tesla right now except to know that all evidence is they are growing fast and their capabilities are increasing.

But we do know they are going mass market with the Model 3 AND THAT ELON MUSK IS NOT A DUMMY. The measure of Musk's business prowess is not whether a group of nerdy whiners on a forum are happy with his interface - it's whether he can sell all the cars he builds. So far he has sold all the cars he can build - clearly his interface is just peachy!

But he knows where software is now in other cars, and that the mass market is a very competitive sphere, that he will have to compete with the interfaces of other $35,000 cars.

I would happily wager - $5,000?? - with you (let's donate to charity of our choices - my choice is the Wildlife Conservancy) publicly making two claims:

1 - 24 months from now Tesla will still have an appreciable lead over the rest of the industry in the capabilities of autonomous driving.

2 - The user interface will be vastly improved due to larger staffing levels, and Tesla's need to compete with the user interfaces of cheap, mass market cars. The ROI from improving the interface will be vastly greater with Model III's huge sales than it has been so far with Model S and Model X's small, captive markets.

Don't sweat it - your interface improvements are coming.

How about that bet? You seem sure of yourself - let's throw down!

 

[notAmeenPerson]

Finally Brooklynrab - I think you worry too much. I think your desires for a better interface will come true. You're sitting here as an outsider watching an explosively growing company - we haven't the foggiest clue what is going on inside Tesla right now except to know that all evidence is they are growing fast and their capabilities are increasing.

But we do know they are going mass market with the Model 3 AND THAT ELON MUSK IS NOT A DUMMY. He knows where software is now in other cars, and that the mass market is a very competitive sphere and that he will have to compete with the interfaces of other $35,000 cars.

I would happily wager - $5,000?? - with you (let's donate to charity of our choices - my choice is the Wildlife Conservancy) publicly making two claims:

1 - 24 months from now Tesla will still have an appreciable lead over the rest of the industry in the capabilities of autonomous driving.

2 - The user interface will be vastly improved due to larger staffing levels, and Tesla's need to compete with the user interfaces of cheap, mass market cars. The ROI from improving the interface will be vastly greater with Model III's huge sales than it has been so far with Model S and Model X's small, captive markets.

Don't sweat it - your interface improvements are coming.

How about that bet? You seem sure of yourself - let's throw down!

Mercedes may invalidate your first statement. In some areas they're ahead with the 2017 E-Class.

 

[calisnow]

Mercedes may invalidate your first statement. In some areas they're ahead with the 2017 E-Class.

I agree that the promised capabilities do sound very impressive - the feature set itself on paper is bigger than Tesla's. As for real world reliability in weird scenarios - marginal road markings, etc. - that's the wild card I don't understand how to measure as a consumer really.

I guess we'll all know soon enough how good the Benz is - I'm sure some detailed autopilot comparison tests will be conducted as soon as the W213 ships. Exciting times!

 

[srthomas21]

Finally Brooklynrab - I think you worry too much. I think your desires for a better interface will come true. You're sitting here as an outsider watching an explosively growing company - we haven't the foggiest clue what is going on inside Tesla right now except to know that all evidence is they are growing fast and their capabilities are increasing.

But we do know they are going mass market with the Model 3 AND THAT ELON MUSK IS NOT A DUMMY. The measure of Musk's business prowess is not whether a group of nerdy whiners on a forum are happy with his interface - it's whether he can sell all the cars he builds. So far he has sold all the cars he can build - clearly his interface is just peachy!

But he knows where software is now in other cars, and that the mass market is a very competitive sphere, that he will have to compete with the interfaces of other $35,000 cars.

I would happily wager - $5,000?? - with you (let's donate to charity of our choices - my choice is the Wildlife Conservancy) publicly making two claims:

1 - 24 months from now Tesla will still have an appreciable lead over the rest of the industry in the capabilities of autonomous driving.

2 - The user interface will be vastly improved due to larger staffing levels, and Tesla's need to compete with the user interfaces of cheap, mass market cars. The ROI from improving the interface will be vastly greater with Model III's huge sales than it has been so far with Model S and Model X's small, captive markets.

Don't sweat it - your interface improvements are coming.

How about that bet? You seem sure of yourself - let's throw down!

Shouldn't the user interface improvements already be a part of a $100,000 car? Personally I expect that if I throw down 100K on a car it should at least have a media user interface to cars in a similar price range. It really shouldn't be that hard to fix something that should have been fixed long ago. I agree that they probably will improve it but the fact that their customers are complaining about issues that long ago should have been addressed is kind of ridiculous don't you think?

 

[notAmeenPerson]

I agree that the promised capabilities do sound very impressive - the feature set itself on paper is bigger than Tesla's. As for real world reliability in weird scenarios - marginal road markings, etc. - that's the wild card I don't understand how to measure as a consumer really.

I guess we'll all know soon enough how good the Benz is - I'm sure some detailed autopilot comparison tests will be conducted as soon as the W213 ships. Exciting times!

I'm suddenly unable to find the Mercedes-Benz drive pilot feature videos. There were a bunch of them lately. There were impressive videos of pedestrian detection. There was another video about active crash avoidance in regards to a car traveling perpendicular to you (red light running). The measurement of needing to interfere and not sounding any alarms was so precise it was impressive. It also includes pedestrian detection. Another video also showed it steering itself to avoid an oncoming object.

I'm in agreeance with you. The overall improvement of autopilot features in newer car models are encouraging. I'm not for the argument of one being better than another.

 

[calisnow]

Shouldn't the user interface improvements already be a part of a $100,000 car? Personally I expect that if I throw down 100K on a car it should at least have a media user interface to cars in a similar price range ... should have been addressed is kind of ridiculous don't you think?

I genuinely disagree with you - sales are the only worthwhile indicator of whether Tesla has their priorities straight - and they sell all the cars they can build. What we think doesn't matter - the market has spoken.

But perhaps it is because you live in Utah (where I've lived also - gorgeous state, no traffic) and I live in Southern California where our roads and traffic are hell on earth that I'm happy to take Autopilot over a slicker user interface.

I think Autopilot has made a much bigger improvement in my life than it probably has in yours. It drove me over 80 miles today through traffic in total relaxation to check on a potential investment which I otherwise probably would not have ventured out to see in my non-autopilot ICE car.

You could rephrase your question - why won't a $100,000 Benz/BMW/Cadillac/Lexus let me chill with my hands in my lap through tough traffic scenarios? Why does the Benz make so many mistakes in its critical don't-kill-me-please-steer-correctly-function and make me touch the wheel every 30 seconds? WTF is that about? Don't you think they should've figured that out by now??? I still have to use a steering wheel - AND BUY GASOLINE? And they are charging $100K? ARE THEY INSANE?

Yeah dude - I can handle some delays on the interface - Musk has his priorities straight and his sales growth shows that.

In the end, money is all that matters for a business.

 

[srthomas21]

I genuinely disagree with you - sales are the only worthwhile indicator of whether Tesla has their priorities straight - and they sell all the cars they can build. What we think doesn't matter - the market has spoken.

But perhaps it is because you live in Utah (where I've lived also - gorgeous state, no traffic) and I live in Southern California where our roads and traffic are hell on earth that I'm happy to take Autopilot over a slicker user interface.

I think Autopilot has made a much bigger improvement in my life than it probably has in yours. It drove me over 80 miles today through traffic in total relaxation to check on a potential investment which I otherwise probably would not have ventured out to see in my non-autopilot ICE car.

You could rephrase your question - why won't a $100,000 Benz/BMW/Cadillac/Lexus let me chill with my hands in my lap through tough traffic scenarios? Don't you think they should've figured that out by now??? I still have to use a steering wheel - AND BUY GASOLINE? And they are charging $100K? ARE THEY INSANE?

Yeah dude - I can handle some delays on the interface - Musk has his priorities straight and his sales growth shows that.

In the end, money is all that matters for a business.

Do they really not have the resources to do both though? I think some of the improvements we want in the user interface isn't rocket science. A few simple changes would make it quite a bit better. The interface didn't stop me from buying the car, true, but with all the tech in that car I just expected more. That's all I'm saying. Maybe they truly don't have the resources to do both. Out of curiosity has there been any improvements to the media interface over the years? I have only test driven a 2014 model and didn't have a lot of time to play around with it but would be curious how much if any they have improved it since 2012.

 

[bredi]

humpf. lets not forget new BMW models for example, spend years developing before the next model. There are NO INCREMENTAL UPDATES! And that's it. no more features till next car model. And you need to buy the new one to get the updates. Rapid Incremental software implementation can feel uneventful. Should they wait a year before "wowing" us?
Take a year ago from today and it may put things in perspective. A lot has been improved.

HOWEVER..... here are just my five.... in particular order.

1) Nav. Yes, improvements are needed. I think everyone can agree. But, hey, its better than any BMW I have ever had. Even our new i3 Nav sucks. And its BMW's iBrand. Have you seen Ford's? Chevy's? With all its faults, its still better than most other cars. I have yet to see a better one. I like german cars, so there you have my perspective.

1) Voice Commands and Telephony. This could be sooo much better and useful. Aside from driving, Navigating and listening to Music, we talk on our cellphone more than anything else. (which is kinda crazy if you think about it). The processing is there. It could put Tesla ahead of anyone else if development is put towards it. Google voice commands? Even just simple things could use improvements, "Call Mom - Mobile" = Calls Mom's mobile cell without taking eye of road and tapping. Favorites? Really, I'm dumbfounded as to why you can't program some favorite Contacts like Radio Stations. I have had this since mobile integration in my BMW's since 2000's. Just give me 10.

How about Text popups? Ok... i know, but we'd be lying to ourselves it we ignored our texts until we get out of our cars. How about BIG TEXT on the screen? Or, how about cached messages until stopped? Once stopped, they appear on the screen. Actually, that would be pretty cool and could even be a "safety" feature.

3) Control summon forward/reverse manually by holding forward and back rather then sensors. Would allow on inclines. Space offset on summon, so that you could leave more space on one side if desired.

4.Web browser. wow! Tesla themselves must get frustrated with it. Or should we just be lucky we have one? Its slow and out of date and requires more eyes OFF the road (stopped of course) to do anything meaningful. This could be purposely throttled while driving. But it has the opposite effect if so. If there was an accident and browsing history is found... yikes. Then again, we use our phones instead. But Tesla wouldn't be to blame. Faster browsing is better still. For passengers especially.

5. Extended Weather at current Location AND extended Weather Forecast along my destination(s). Snowing ahead? Chains needed? ice along my route? This could be an extension to Nav and Trip, or its own app. Or both.

I agree that allowing third party development for "Apps" would have huge benefits. But there could also be some legal issues. Yes, Tesla is a computer on wheels, but "WHEELS" on a road that can kill you or kill other people should have limitations. Opening up to third party does just that also.... OPENS IT UP!. Plus, you can't image it would also be free? or free from ads? Visual Ads in a car? Hell no. Would I pay monthly for a better Nav? Yes, but it better be way better than the free one from Tesla that still improves itself OTA.

With all its faults in UI and software, it is still a car that is way better overall than any other in software car implemention. Ford SYNC? GM? laughable. CarPlay may be the exception, but I don't have experience with it.

I kinda want to go drive now, just for fun.

 

[calisnow]

Do they really not have the resources to do both though? Out of curiosity has there been any improvements to the media interface over the years?

As to your first question I don't know - it seems reasonable to conclude that they have not had the resources in the past to do all things, or these complaints would have been addressed. As for the present and the future it also seems reasonable to predict that more resources will be devoted to software interface development because Tesla has more resources now, and the ROI for improvements grows as sales do.

To your second - I don't know that either.

 

[BertL]

Do they really not have the resources to do both though? I think some of the improvements we want in the user interface isn't rocket science. A few simple changes would make it quite a bit better. The interface didn't stop me from buying the car, true, but with all the tech in that car I just expected more. That's all I'm saying. Maybe they truly don't have the resources to do both. Out of curiosity has there been any improvements to the media interface over the years? I have only test driven a 2014 model and didn't have a lot of time to play around with it but would be curious how much if any they have improved it since 2012.

Agree with your POV.

I also live in SoCal, but unlike some others, am not enamored with Autosteer as a necessity for me today or likely ever in my 6-month old "V1" AutoPilot-enabled MS. "V2" could be a whole different game, but that isn't the vehicle being sold, nor is it what I own, nor is it what Tesla will likely offer as a reasonably-priced upgrade to my existing MS one day.

I love being part of "the movement". I also got into this Tesla thing knowing a significant percentage of my MS price would be used to fund the future, compared to what true mass-marketed vehicles like M3 will be able to sustain. Having come from 20 years of Lexus ownership where they definitely have been slow to introduce new functions, capabilities and design -- but as they have been in my experience, are generally even better refined into an integrated driver experience than their competition offers, with little tweaks coming in subsequent model years. Additionally, Lexus set the standard with what reliability, resale value, and customer loyalty can be. I'm spoiled having owned luxury vehicles (Acura, Lexus, BMW & MBZ) for more than half my life, and have grown accustomed to having "basic" creature comforts and Infotainment that work in each of my rides. Given that, my $100K otherwise-technologically-superior MS just has too many incomplete functions that seem to check-off boxes with what makes the press and in comparative reviews. It's only when an Owner lives with MS (or MX) for a longer period you find the problems or annoyances, and things that Tesla/Elon have introduced to great fanfare, but have left in relatively unusable or incomplete states. I completely get that a startup can't do it all, but as has been articulated many times in this and other similar threads, Tesla can no longer get a pass on their "non-AutoPilot" deficiencies and needs to demonstrate constant improvement (even slow, but sure) to it's present and future owner base to sustain long-term sales. I am an example of an Owner that loves his MS, but has moved in just 5 months of ownership to being on-the-fence in terms of recommending one, and will not buy another Tesla if "the basics" are not there when the time comes -- despite how technologically-advanced AutoPilot may be.

 

[calisnow]

I will grant you complainers one thing that I am in total agreement about - the navigation needs to have real time traffic calculations and re-routing like Waze and Google. As is right now I still have to use my phone when taking a trip of any distance in So Cal because I can't trust the Tesla's on board navigation to calculate the best route based on road conditions.

 

[brooklynrab]

I agree with you. As I suggested earlier, I would be OK with a slow but sure approach to knocking some of this off with perhaps an internal team who owns the non-Autopilot/Performance capabilities -- while a majority perhaps continues work on the jazzy new stuff that is needed to attract the Press and some new buyers at the same time. There is little (note I didn't say "nothing") to demonstrate Tesla Mgmt is focused that way.

As a software guy many years ago, I was hired out of college into the "maintenance team" who's job it was to fix code that was broken and do minor enhancements as the need arose... (I was the guy that got the call at 2AM when e.g. Payroll blew up, or there was some new terms in a negotiated union contract to integrate with Time & Attendance). The more senior "development" teams built new capabilities and new releases that once accepted by the user community, was turned back over to "maintenance". Both had to work in a coordinated manner, but it allowed future investments to move forward, at the same time what was running the business kept working 7x24x365 with any minor fixes and a few improvements were slipped in along the way. It does not appear Tesla operates like this, and I know a lot is different in the 35+ years since my programming days, but don't you agree the old concept sounds like something that is a lot more customer-centric than perhaps is being delivered today? ​

I'm a relatively new MS Owner, but i must say I find it a little disillusioning to find some of the problems and usability issues I've encountered are the same as have existed from Day 1, with now 100K MS on the road -- especially when resolution will be via software only and can be distributed OTA. I do love my MS. I also appreciate where Elon is likely headed into the future, but he and Tesla must have more attention to these littler details as Tesla grows and matures. The unresolved problems and little nits add up with some of us, and at least for me, my love for my MS becomes ever-so-slightly less as time goes on and nothing seems to be done to resolve issues I have every time I drive my MS. I'm sure if Tesla does not gain focus on doing more "maintenance" as well as future "development" at the same time , it will catch up with them in the longer run. "The masses" will expect more, yet pay less, than some (or is it "many") earlier enthusiasts have and will.

+1 to BertL.

And to those others who feel we have no justification in believing that Tesla won't continue to dominate the autonomous driving space, all I can say is that EVERYONE in the automobile industry is now focussing on this challenge, they are all a ton better capitalized than Tesla is, and many of them are building on Mobileye and its Israeli ingenuity to varying degrees (as has Tesla) to get them there. I have no doubt that Tesla will be in the game, but to believe that it will possess an overwhelming market advantage over the competitors in autopilot simply does not square with the probabilities.

Again, I'd like to see Tesla not totally stop development of autopilot, but just throw some resources at fixing everything else, starting with NAV where they are woefully behind, because that will be the road to long term consumer satisfaction and mass market adoption as we prepare for the Model 3.

Here is an easy way for Tesla to show it is listening -- the new Volvo interface allows drivers to select from one of three skins to portray their driver displays (and can be upgraded OTA by Volvo as well). Can Tesla firmware version 7.2 please permit the same option, so that those who like the 7.1 display can see it that way, and those who like the 6.2 display can choose their happiness?

 

[RogerHScott]

All of the people dissing sumon must not have narrow and/or cluttered garages. Having the car able to put itself in and
get itself out of the garage with basically no risk of scraping the sides eliminates just one more source of stress -- and who
doesn't appreciate that, especially in a car of this class? Not that it isn't also freakin' cool!

 

[BertL]

All of the people dissing sumon must not have narrow and/or cluttered garages. Having the car able to put itself in and
get itself out of the garage with basically no risk of scraping the sides eliminates just one more source of stress -- and who
doesn't appreciate that, especially in a car of this class? Not that it isn't also freakin' cool!

I don't think there are a lot of people that feel Summon isn't cool -- just perhaps a number of owners and prospective buyers that feel some other functions many more owners use every day, can use some long-delayed fixes and enhancement concurrently with the rest of Autopilot improvements (including Summon) being made -- not being effectively forgotten after an initial drop and press release of new functionality as has been the case much of the time in MS' short history with non-Autopilot capabilities.

I'm fortunate to not have a narrow space I have to fit my massive MS into my garage, but can see where Summon could benefit those that do. It certainly bailed me out a few months ago when I parked in a stall at Disneyland one morning to come back later in the day to a |>>%#~ that parked so close to my driver door it was impossible for me to open it. Instead of crawling into my drivers seat from the passenger side, I was able to back my MS out with my FOB, show off the wonders of my Tesla to a couple of friends I had brought along, get a bunch of oohs and aahhhs from them and on-lookers, and go on my way. THAT was very cool, but is the only time I personally have found benefit to Summon's capability in my use since it was introduced. As such, in my personal scheme of things that are important to me, I'll take fixes to acknowledged firmware bugs and bringing Infotainment up-to-par against the competition any day. e.g I'd love to have my rated range be displayed like what Tesla promised before purchasing my MS 90D; not have phantom USB playing when I park most days which eats 2-3 miles of rated range per day between charges; less studdering of my Nav and music requiring reboots of the 17" while I'm driving; and of course adding several Nav/Infotainment improvements I've come to expect from previous luxury vehicles I've owned for 5+ years that Tesla does not prioritize as important in their scheme of things would be a huge plus and early Christmas present ...but that's just me.

My "good" Tesla MS could once again become "great", and perhaps IMHO become the best vehicle I've ever owned, if Elon and Tesla focused even a small team permanently resolving non-Autopilot bugs and then demonstrating constant improvement to these sort of non-Autopilot things for its owners today and tomorrow. Tesla's lack of attention to this brings the brand down in my concept of their focus and caring about today's owner VS Elon's vision for tomorrow being the only priority. IMHO Tesla no longer gets a pass on this because they are a new brand. Enough time has passed and scale been achieved, especially when we are talking about software functions that other mfgrs have had for years (so it can't be rocket science). With M3 reservation success, perhaps Elon doesn't care about the distinction of customer satisfaction from good to excellent, but if not, in my experience it will bite Tesla in the rear one day. Like most of us, I also want Tesla to be successful, and I'd be happy owing a Tesla to the day I die. ...but, Tesla must both deal with tomorrow (Autopilot), as well as today (firmware fixes and bringing Infotainment up-to-date to at least match the competition) to succeed and make me a totally satisfied customer that wants to once again recommend the brand without reservation as I did the day I brought my MS home, and then buy another Tesla one day. ...but again, that's just me. Peace.

 

[msnow]

I don't think there are a lot of people that feel Summon isn't cool -- just perhaps a number of owners and prospective buyers that feel some other functions many more owners use every day, can use some long-delayed fixes and enhancement concurrently with the rest of Autopilot improvements (including Summon) being made -- not being effectively forgotten after an initial drop and press release of new functionality as has been the case much of the time in MS' short history with non-Autopilot capabilities.

I'm fortunate to not have a narrow space I have to fit my massive MS into my garage, but can see where Summon could benefit those that do. It certainly bailed me out a few months ago when I parked in a stall at Disneyland one morning to come back later in the day to a |>>%#~ that parked so close to my driver door it was impossible for me to open it. Instead of crawling into my drivers seat from the passenger side, I was able to back my MS out with my FOB, show off the wonders of my Tesla to a couple of friends I had brought along, get a bunch of oohs and aahhhs from them and on-lookers, and go on my way. THAT was very cool, but is the only time I personally have found benefit to Summon's capability in my use since it was introduced. As such, in my personal scheme of things that are important to me, I'll take fixes to acknowledged firmware bugs and bringing Infotainment up-to-par against the competition any day. e.g I'd love to have my rated range be displayed like what Tesla promised before purchasing my MS 90D; not have phantom USB playing when I park most days which eats 2-3 miles of rated range per day between charges; less studdering of my Nav and music requiring reboots of the 17" while I'm driving; and of course adding several Nav/Infotainment improvements I've come to expect from previous luxury vehicles I've owned for 5+ years that Tesla does not prioritize as important in their scheme of things would be a huge plus and early Christmas present ...but that's just me.

My "good" Tesla MS could once again become "great", and perhaps IMHO become the best vehicle I've ever owned, if Elon and Tesla focused even a small team permanently resolving non-Autopilot bugs and then demonstrating constant improvement to these sort of non-Autopilot things for its owners today and tomorrow. Tesla's lack of attention to this brings the brand down in my concept of their focus and caring about today's owner VS Elon's vision for tomorrow being the only priority. IMHO Tesla no longer gets a pass on this because they are a new brand. Enough time has passed and scale been achieved, especially when we are talking about software functions that other mfgrs have had for years (so it can't be rocket science). With M3 reservation success, perhaps Elon doesn't care about the distinction of customer satisfaction from good to excellent, but if not, in my experience it will bite Tesla in the rear one day. Like most of us, I also want Tesla to be successful, and I'd be happy owing a Tesla to the day I die. ...but, Tesla must both deal with tomorrow (Autopilot), as well as today (firmware fixes and bringing Infotainment up-to-date to at least match the competition) to succeed and make me a totally satisfied customer that wants to once again recommend the brand without reservation as I did the day I brought my MS home, and then buy another Tesla one day. ...but again, that's just me. Peace.

It's not just you. Reading through this thread most people are disappointed in Tesla for not following through on bug fixes. The two biggest for me are navigation (which is just terrible and the rated range fix for 90D's).

Regarding Summon, I think it's cool but in my situation I share one of our three garage stalls with my wife and I like to park as far as I can to the left to avoid any possible door dings. Summon does not allow the left/right bias but instead wants to center the car which doesn't work for me. It is useful in backing out of the garage however so it's not a totally useless feature for me.

 

[RogerHScott]

There is no need for priorities. Tesla employs A LOT of people.

The latter in no way implies the former. Work expands to consume or exceed available resources, so there's never "enough" and always a critical need for priorities. If Tesla actually had a sufficiency of resources everything they ship would be good enough
to make everyone happy, which clearly it is not.