If I don't get EAP on my car, what driving assists do remain as standard? I see there is front/side collision warning, and AEB. But what about lane departure warning, or lane keeping assist? Does that exist on the tesla? I'm pretty sure TACC isn't available without EAP, which is a shame.
I think lane departure warning will stay even without EAP. Tesla doesn't do lane keep assist as a separate feature - they only have Autosteer. Blind spot warning (as useless as Tesla's system is) should also be included. TACC is not included without EAP. I think that is the carrot that gets most of us to pony up the full $5K.
I didn't buy the extra software either - car has lane departure warning (vibrates your steering wheel) which forces you to use your signals when changing lanes else vibrations happen too often..
I agree. TACC was really the only thing I really wanted that made me get the EAP option. It still annoys me that it cost an extra $5K for something that's standard on our import ICE car that costs half as much.
I didn't include EAP on mine when I placed the order in July. Like others, I felt the $5k option was too much since I only really want TACC. I requested a late September delivery to coincide with my other car's lease ending, so I'm hoping that by then Tesla flips a switch and makes TACC standard. Can they do that without adding hardware? I was told that the basic car has all the necessary hardware installed for TACC.
All the hardware is present, you pay to unlock software - I like your notion that some safety related things should be 'free'
They could "flip a switch" to make TACC standard, but they won't as it is part of EAP. If they do decide to include TACC as part of the base car, they would increase the price of the car to compensate for the additional features (just as they have done in the past on the S for Premium Interior, air suspension, dual motor, etc.)
I think they should offer short term upgrades to unlock EAP/TACC for smaller fees, for say long road trips and such. Pretty sure they would get customers to pony up for the permanent solution once they try it out in action.
They have done free trials via software updates in the past. I suspect that once the 9.0 stuff comes out they will do one again to try an entice folks to buy.
yes, they will have a free trial again soon, but my understanding is in the past-and for this upcoming one-it will be a one time thing. Why not let people pay say 200-250$ for a month of access. Any payments made would carry forward towards the 5K fee.
That would probably be more hassle than Tesla wants to deal with. Everytime someone rents AP, they have to activate it, then deactivate it and keep track of the money spent. I think it is more likely that if Tesla starts having a hard time selling EAP then they will lower the overall price. Like they did with the software battery unlocks. No one was buying, so they lowered the price. But they wont do anything if they feel they are getting enough $$ now. No need to.
The warnings are working without EAP. Cruise control also functions, although it's not TACC. The TACC is the only thing that works in my M3 EAP Free 2 week trial.
I'm not sure it's worth 5K, but we really like TACC and lane keeping on our S. If we were to replace it, I'd get EAP, albeit that the E only stands for "Expensive".