Why I Won't Be Ordering EAP and FSD

[run-the-joules]

This ^^

AP and the decent range is the only reason why I would buy a Tesla. AP is the next thing to sliced bread. Greatest stress reliever ever engineered in the auto industry.

I joke a lot that when i have autopilot it’s going to save a life. Not mine, that of the random stranger I won’t kill out of frustration with traffic.

 

[WileyTheMan]

I would not say it is "foolish" to purchase EAP (It would be for FSD at this point). It's an option, and some people find it a desirable option, enough to drop five large on. Personally I cannot justify the cost at that price. I'm sure at one point in the future, development will mature and the cost will go down or become standard in order to compete with other manufacturers that will inevitably be there with similar features.

 

[TaoJones]

I would not say it is "foolish" to purchase EAP (It would be for FSD at this point). It's an option, and some people find it a desirable option, enough to drop five large on. Personally I cannot justify the cost at that price. I'm sure at one point in the future, development will mature and the cost will go down or become standard in order to compete with other manufacturers that will inevitably be there with similar features.

But but but... it’s less than the cost of a Starbucks a day over 3 years!

Buy EAP, give up coffee - what could possibly go wrong?

 

[jgrgnt]

It’s important to note that the TACC from most other manufacturers doesn’t handle stop and go traffic anywhere near as gracefully, requiring you to tap the throttle to take off from a stop again. It’s incredibly annoying.

This.

 

[T34ME]

I'm sure at one point in the future, development will mature and the cost will go down or become standard in order to compete with other manufacturers that will inevitably be there with similar features.

You could be right, but I am equally sure the price will go up from the current $6K if you add EAP later. Then you will see posts on TMC accusing Tesla of "bait and switch" and "criminal" activity. It never ends. A price is not frozen in time forever and generally prices go up for the increased features, quality. and reliability.

What it boils down to is, IF you are going to use EAP (I will) it is definitely worth it. If you are not going to use EAP, it is not worth it.

 

[jelloslug]

I would not say it is "foolish" to purchase EAP (It would be for FSD at this point). It's an option, and some people find it a desirable option, enough to drop five large on. Personally I cannot justify the cost at that price. I'm sure at one point in the future, development will mature and the cost will go down or become standard in order to compete with other manufacturers that will inevitably be there with similar features.

If you have not used it day in and day out, I can see your point of view. For me, not having it is a deal breaker.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

For me, if I could have bought just traffic aware cruise, I would have, but Tesla forces the self steering on you, which I never use in our x.

 

[Dave B]

As for FSD, I wouldn't pay for it until it became legal locally.

Why I am paying for FSD: If you want a technology developed, consider contributing towards it. As my coding skills are more likely to lead to more road fatalities - not less, I'm contributing in the form of $3k up front for something I'll eventually get to use.

 

[stayfocus18]

if i had a long commute eap would be an easy sell... but my 15 min commute to work says otherwise... current ice car is giving up on me so the model 3 just fits the bill... gonna get long range standard.

 

[Pentium2004]

Why I am paying for FSD: If you want a technology developed, consider contributing towards it. As my coding skills are more likely to lead to more road fatalities - not less, I'm contributing in the form of $3k up front for something I'll eventually get to use.

Thank you for the contribution. I on the other hand will not pay for something I cannot use and have not seen working. Especially with a company that is known to have transparency issues and making promises it can't keep. TACC is a necessity though. I've had it on my last 3 vehicles and the Tesla far exceeds the abilities of any other vehicles I've owned.

 

[TexLaw]

EAP is all kinds of worth it for any sort of long distance driving or high-congestion/variable-speed driving. I wouldn't be without it in those situations again, if I can help it. There's a lot of stop/slow-and-go traffic around here, and it sure is nice to let EAP handle some of that. I also enjoyed letting EAP do a lot of the work over a recent 900 mile drive where I felt a lot better at the end than I would have without EAP. I was greatly surprised and impressed at the difference.

If you are just tooling around town, you probably won't get too much out of EAP, although the TACC is quite nice in nearly any setting.

As for FSD . . . yeah, you're pretty much financing (betting on?) something that you hope will show up in the future in enough time to enjoy it on the car you're buying. It's still more optimism than anything else.

 

[seattlite2004]

I'm thinking If TACC was offered outside of EAP, amount of people purchasing EAP would be much lower.

Report: GM and Waymo lead driverless car race; Tesla lags far behind – Ars Technica

Navigant Research Leaderboard: Automated Driving Vehicles

 

[Sandiegodoug]

I definitely would not have ordered
But I really like tacc
Hell, my 2002 Lexus 430 had that

 

[dgpcolorado]

But but but... it’s less than the cost of a Starbucks a day over 3 years!

Buy EAP, give up coffee - what could possibly go wrong?

Depends on one's perspective — how about those who gave up fancy coffee and eating out years ago in order to be able to afford a Model 3 in the first place? While they might be relatively few, such people do exist!

No EAP for me: no traffic where I live — only one stoplight in my entire county — and I quite enjoy driving my Tesla on my very long road trips. If I lived in a big city it would be different.

 

[seattlite2004]

Tesla should offer EAP features ala carte and offer TACC and Autosteer separately. $2500 each...or maybe offer TACC at lower cost since it seems most of the dev seems to be in Autosteer.

 

[smorgasbord]

First, let's understand that the Navigant Research report is not about what's actually shipping to customers! It's about "vision; go-to market strategy; partners; production strategy; technology; sales, marketing, and distribution; product capability; product quality and reliability; product portfolio; and staying power." Many of those are subjective criteria.

I've been in a Chrylsers of a couple years ago with lane centering, and they failed miserably. Right now all the buzz is about Cadillac's Super Cruise feature. GM uses high resolution lidar-created maps to enable the car to auto-steer. That means you can only auto-steer on roads that GM has pre-approved AND you can only do it if you're in one of the "middle" lanes. It also means that GM has to continuously update the maps in the car as the road changes, and it may be unaware of things like construction events. Even Jalponik doesn't think SuperCruise is a capable as Tesla's AutoSteer: https://jalopnik.com/cadillacs-super-cruise-makes-the-self-driving-future-se-1819153551 SuperCruise also doesn't have auto lane change (Mercedes does, though).

I haven't tried it, but it'll be interesting to see if GM's insistence on the driver looking ahead (confirmed by in cabin cameras) is more obtrusive than Tesla's hand on the wheel check.

One thing that hasnt been brought up is that so far Tesla's Model 3 is the cheapest shipping car that has such features. For Caddy and Mercedes you have to buy their top of the line vehicles for tens of thousands of dollars more.

 

[jgrgnt]

I definitely would not have ordered
But I really like tacc
Hell, my 2002 Lexus 430 had that

Could it come to a complete stop? Seems like this is what differentiates the current-gen systems versus what was offered in the past.

 

[comanchepilot]

Even if you don't buy EAP its still installed . . .

apparently also if you don't buy FSD you can give them $4k and have FSD - even if it doesn't really work and is not legal yet much of anywhere - and regardless of FSD you are still personally liable for your vehicle while behind the wheel.

 

[Twiglett]

hahahahahahaha
They put Tesla and Apple (two of the most secret companies) in the challenger group because they're rating all of the very public demonstrations of the so called leaders.
Who really knows what Apple is doing, not Navigant that's for sure.

The other unmentioned hidden nugget is that Tesla are already using the data from their MASSIVE fleet of AP equipped cars to act as data sources. These cars have traveled orders of magnitude more miles than their competition.
With all that data Tesla can compare what their FSD implementation would have done had it been engaged, no need to have driverless Teslas out there. All the development happens behind closed doors.
This is the development model they have used for quite some time.
Not a single competitor has that.

Add the OTA updates to the mix and I will be perfectly happy dropping $5K on EAP, secure in the knowledge that it will get better and better and better over my years of ownership.

 

[fazluke]

Very educational discussion, so I am now leaning toward not ordering AP when my turn come before March. Now I wondering when I decide to add it, is there a higher price to pay?