Tesla radically expands Early Access Program

[strangecosmos]

“Customers who previously purchased Full Self-Driving will receive an invitation to Tesla’s Early Access Program (EAP). EAP members are invited to experience and provide feedback on new features and functionality before they are rolled out to other customers.”
​

Upgrading to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability

 

[strangecosmos]

Previously, I believe the Early Access Program had about 2,000 members. If 5% of the ~400,000 current HW2 car owners joined the Program, that would be a 10x of its membership.

 

[iTech]

Paying $2k or $3k for Early Access Program, but in reality you're paying for that HW3 (if HW3 is even the final version) swap.

 

[strangecosmos]

The way they phrase it makes me think you’ll only get an invite to the Early Access Program if you bought FSD before February 28.

 

[OPRCE]

Yes, my understanding is that it's for those like myself who fronted up for FSD at point of purchase before Feb. 28th.

This expansion of EAP is also a hopeful sign that the HW3 retrofit will happen relatively early for us, in order to keep things early!

 

[fmonera]

I bought FSD back in June/2018, but I am from Europe and Tesla keeps us as second class citizens.
It would be a surprise to receive that invitation.

 

[strangecosmos]

I bought FSD back in June/2018, but I am from Europe and Tesla keeps us as second class citizens.

Revenge of the New World! Try to keep us as colonies, will you...

 

[croman]

Revenge of the New World! Try to keep us as colonies, will you...

I wish I could both love and mark as funny.

 

[Chris350]

I bought the full package back in 7/18...

Received an invite back in October and signed up..

Never heard from them again..

No early Access...

So, just because you get invited, doesn't mean anything... At least not yet...

My invite shows "submitted".

 

[ewoodrick]

Cool, bought with the car in March 2018.

 

[chillaban]

I suspect they will also use this to prioritize FSD hardware retrofits. It would be nice if that’s in order of purchasing FSD.

 

[electronblue]

Thank goodness we locked in the cheap FSD price back in 2016, right? Right?

Well, at least we’ve had all those FSD features to enjoy since July 2017.

 

[azred]

As customer accounts are adjusted to allow autopilot $2000 and FSD $3000 for a combined purchase total of $5000 I imagine that invitation to be in the early bird club will seem pretty expensive for those who forked out $8000-$11,000 for the same features.

 

[VT_EE]

I bought the full package back in 7/18...

Received an invite back in October and signed up..

Never heard from them again..

No early Access...

So, just because you get invited, doesn't mean anything... At least not yet...

My invite shows "submitted".

Exact same situation for me.

 

[BinaryField]

The title of this thread is misleading and almost implies that there was some kind of major technical breakthrough requiring more testers. In reality, the Early Access Program is just being used as a sink for backlash over their recent AP product pricing ripoff.

 

[chillaban]

The title of this thread is misleading and almost implies that there was some kind of major technical breakthrough requiring more testers. In reality, the Early Access Program is just being used as a sink for backlash over their recent AP product pricing ripoff.

I beg to differ. Look at sentry mode and the 4.8% rollout. I would be willing to put a dollar amount on how much I would want to be in that group. Being stuck on the tail end of a rollout already means you can be 2-3 months trailing when others get a new feature. That matters to me as a Tesla customer.

 

[FloridaJohn]

I bought the full package back in 7/18...

Received an invite back in October and signed up..

Never heard from them again..

No early Access...

So, just because you get invited, doesn't mean anything... At least not yet...

My invite shows "submitted".

Same for me as well. At least we’re not alone!

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I beg to differ. Look at sentry mode and the 4.8% rollout. I would be willing to put a dollar amount on how much I would want to be in that group. Being stuck on the tail end of a rollout already means you can be 2-3 months trailing when others get a new feature. That matters to me as a Tesla customer.

I am curious how much Early Access is worth.

I admit I spent way more time than is rational refreshing things like TeslaFi or TMC when a new feature is released.

I imagine if I added up all that time it would exceed $3K.

Now hopefully I'm an outlier, and that no one else is as nutty as I am.

If I get the HW3 upgrade soon, and the SW releases within the first 5% then I'll be pretty happy. I'll also be pretty happy if I can have an actual communication with an engineer when there is a problem. So I can clearly communicate (in an email) what the problem is, and have it fixed. As it is now I don't even bother sending anything since I doubt it would get read or looked into.

 

[heltok]

I assume an EAP car would be worth thousands of dollar for competing car companies, journalists and bloggers.

 

[azred]

I beg to differ. Look at sentry mode and the 4.8% rollout. I would be willing to put a dollar amount on how much I would want to be in that group. Being stuck on the tail end of a rollout already means you can be 2-3 months trailing when others get a new feature. That matters to me as a Tesla customer.

I hope your attitude represents a majority as the last thing the company needs at this point is for the majority of their early adopter-evangelists to turn on them. I did “overpay” for EAP on one of my 2 Teslas and that’s all I’ve spent on the two upgrades, but even if I was out a lot more money I am much more concerned about the company surviving than any personal “rip-off” by the company. It would be swell if my S and 3 became expensive paperweights.

Maybe my concern is not merited but the developments of the past week suggest to me that Tesla is at a pivotal point in its long term future and the outcome is far from certain.