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Tesla Vision, a business/marketing take

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Hi folks,

I have been giving some thoughts to the announcement of last week, and so far I still have mixed feelings about Full Self Driving (FSD).

First and foremost I (we) have to congratulate all Tesla Teams that made this announcement possible. I believe we cannot imaginate the level of pressure EM can give for such reveals. To the people there, tremendous job !

Tesla Vision (FSD) was indeed, at my level, unexpected as i wasn't planning on level 5 autonomy before 2 years from now.
So again Tesla was able to get to prime time before anybody on this. Impressive.

However, when my business self is analyzing the announcement, this is were I get mixed feelings. Let me explain to you why :

1. Time to market
A. Innovation eagerness
I believe that the market today, therefor the people, today, are not ready for FSD. Even I, who loves innovations, wasn't expecting it before 2 years. And I do believe I have a better sensibility to innovations (and eagerness) than a vast majority of the population. Then I would not expect from an average Joe to understand what FSD is and will do for him today.

B. The love of control
A few will love to give full control to the car and drive them from point A to B. The rest, well we still love to drive for the sensations it gives us. Here again, people are not ready to give control. And the firsts success of Teslas was the grinning behind the wheel, the control over the acceleration ! And now, it is "taken away"...

C. Tesla Vision customer's value
This is a tricky one, as i can't generalize, but even if I do undersand the move and Tesla Vision's vision, I do not believe FSD is giving an actual value to the customer yet. We do not need FSD in our day to day activities. However some part of the day we would need it, and this is where I would have "advertised" it differently, and my next point :

2. Marketing hook and buzz
A. Rush hours
Remember this video when a guy was sleeping in traffic sitting in his S ? True or fake, this is why FSD should have been fully advertised for. Even EM told us that all functionnalities were not available from day one. So it would have been better on a marketing point of view to say :
"FSD is now available for your rush hours. The use of FSD is limited to low speeds and when the car detect itself that you are in a traffic jam. Then enjoy your time while we drive for you".
As what people hate mostly traffic jam in their cars, this would have given them value to FSD and hook them and create the need.

B. The buzz
Imagine the buzz after such an announcement and the first videos showing people letting it go during traffic jams. Free advertising !!
Now, even on TMC, we all discuss ethics, legal actions and case studies where FSD would fail. Even if EM have said that Tesla Vision will learn before releasing functionnalities.

Then, I still have mixed feelings, on one hand blown by what Tesla just achieved and yet, I will just see what the tech will do, instead of craving for it.

And you folks, what's your take on it ?
 
Hi folks,

I have been giving some thoughts to the announcement of last week, and so far I still have mixed feelings about Full Self Driving (FSD).

First and foremost I (we) have to congratulate all Tesla Teams that made this announcement possible. I believe we cannot imaginate the level of pressure EM can give for such reveals. To the people there, tremendous job !

Tesla Vision (FSD) was indeed, at my level, unexpected as i wasn't planning on level 5 autonomy before 2 years from now.
So again Tesla was able to get to prime time before anybody on this. Impressive.

However, when my business self is analyzing the announcement, this is were I get mixed feelings. Let me explain to you why :

1. Time to market
A. Innovation eagerness
I believe that the market today, therefor the people, today, are not ready for FSD. Even I, who loves innovations, wasn't expecting it before 2 years. And I do believe I have a better sensibility to innovations (and eagerness) than a vast majority of the population. Then I would not expect from an average Joe to understand what FSD is and will do for him today.

B. The love of control
A few will love to give full control to the car and drive them from point A to B. The rest, well we still love to drive for the sensations it gives us. Here again, people are not ready to give control. And the firsts success of Teslas was the grinning behind the wheel, the control over the acceleration ! And now, it is "taken away"...

C. Tesla Vision customer's value
This is a tricky one, as i can't generalize, but even if I do undersand the move and Tesla Vision's vision, I do not believe FSD is giving an actual value to the customer yet. We do not need FSD in our day to day activities. However some part of the day we would need it, and this is where I would have "advertised" it differently, and my next point :

2. Marketing hook and buzz
A. Rush hours
Remember this video when a guy was sleeping in traffic sitting in his S ? True or fake, this is why FSD should have been fully advertised for. Even EM told us that all functionnalities were not available from day one. So it would have been better on a marketing point of view to say :
"FSD is now available for your rush hours. The use of FSD is limited to low speeds and when the car detect itself that you are in a traffic jam. Then enjoy your time while we drive for you".
As what people hate mostly traffic jam in their cars, this would have given them value to FSD and hook them and create the need.

B. The buzz
Imagine the buzz after such an announcement and the first videos showing people letting it go during traffic jams. Free advertising !!
Now, even on TMC, we all discuss ethics, legal actions and case studies where FSD would fail. Even if EM have said that Tesla Vision will learn before releasing functionnalities.

Then, I still have mixed feelings, on one hand blown by what Tesla just achieved and yet, I will just see what the tech will do, instead of craving for it.

And you folks, what's your take on it ?
1A. So far it does nothing, an average Joe just takes comfort
1B. Elon agrees so you'll still be able to drive it manually.
1C. If a customer values their lives and the lives of their families then that's value. I would argue that day to day activities (driving to work or home) is when you need FSD the most!

2A. It's a legitimate need. I see accidents during rush hour practically every day. Look at any major city and you'll see the same. What if we could prevent even half of these?

2B. There will be more buzz closer to when the functionalities are enabled and more demos.