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Will Elon give Autopilot free for 2018 or early 2019 buyers

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Sure there is. It's called demand. Buzz. Marketing without marketing. And it's working. Ya seen the stock lately? The 2019 deliveries?

It's their software and changing the price - or including it with the base car - is their prerogative.

Remember when Apple charged $129 for each version of Mac OS? Now it's included with the machine. Doesn't mean I get all upset because the people who bought Macs after me didn't have to pay for the updates.



And it does. FSD was less when that was posted. Now it's $7k.



If it's not released, what in the bloody hell is changing the lanes on my car? Sure, it's labeled "beta" - but so was Gmail for 5 years. Doesn't mean it wasn't real or didn't work.

This really, truly all boils down to someone else getting a better deal than you did... and that's really just how the world works. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

Sorry if I'm lacking sympathy, but just because someone else got something for free, doesn't mean you didn't get what you paid for.
It is I that lack sympathy for people who now think they should get things for free that they did not purchase with the car. Tell me again how giving away software increases demand for it?
 
It is I that lack sympathy for people who now think they should get things for free that they did not purchase with the car. Tell me again how giving away software increases demand for it?

You don't think people want the car more because it comes with Autopilot included? I mean, really, it isn't - it's baked into the cost of the vehicle - but it's all about packaging.

Take a Marketing 101 class and come back to me.
 
You don't think people want the car more because it comes with Autopilot included? I mean, really, it isn't - it's baked into the cost of the vehicle - but it's all about packaging.

Take a Marketing 101 class and come back to me.
This thread isn't about AP coming with the cars now, it's about giving it for free to people who didn't purchase it while others paid.

No I don't think this is necessary.
 
As someone who posted a similar thread before, I understand OP's perspective. That said, it doesn't need to be free- and I understand the myriad responses that take issue with that. That said, I think there are a few ideas worth consideration:
1. If every 3 had AP , there would be fewer software variations/more standardization and the safety statistics would be a nice bonus (and marketing hook).
2. Item 1 could be accomplished through another "sale" - something in the $1,500-$2,000 range would win over a lot of hold-out (myself included). For those of us not planning to keep the car for 5+ years, AP looks like less of a value with every year that goes by (e.g. I have a 2018 and plan to trade it in 2022, so right now I'd only get 2 years of use out of AP. Since I'd likely trade the car to Tesla, I have trouble believing I'd recoop much of the cost since they can "flip the switch" for free).
3. With Item 2 in mind, I really like the idea of a subscription model (monthly would be fine - maybe $50ish). New revenue stream for them, flexibility for the owner.
 
I bought my LR RWD in October 2018 without EAP and I can still add the full functionality for less that I was told it would cost:
  • At the time of purchase I was told the cost at point of sale for EAP was $5k, and FSD an additional $3k = $8k total.
  • The order page also stated that to add these later would be $6k for EAP and $5k for FSD = $11k total.
  • I did not purchase. I had the 30 day free trial. I am too much of a control freak - I did not like where it put the car in the lane. I didn't agree with how early or late it braked in traffic. I felt it was too slow to change lanes. Just not for me.
  • At one point last year, shortly after AP became "included" for new purchases, I was given the opportunity to buy AP for $2k and FSD for an additional $3k = $5k total.
  • I still didn't buy it. My wife did buy it for her car - this was a great deal. I have used it in her car several times, I can never make it more that 5 minutes without retaking control. Still not for me. I just love to drive.
  • As of today, I can buy AP for $3k and FSD for an additional $7k = $10k total. This is still $1k less than I was told it would be to add it after purchase.
Seems more than fair to me.
 
I bought my LR RWD in October 2018 without EAP and I can still add the full functionality for less that I was told it would cost:
  • At the time of purchase I was told the cost at point of sale for EAP was $5k, and FSD an additional $3k = $8k total.
  • The order page also stated that to add these later would be $6k for EAP and $5k for FSD = $11k total.
  • I did not purchase. I had the 30 day free trial. I am too much of a control freak - I did not like where it put the car in the lane. I didn't agree with how early or late it braked in traffic. I felt it was too slow to change lanes. Just not for me.
  • At one point last year, shortly after AP became "included" for new purchases, I was given the opportunity to buy AP for $2k and FSD for an additional $3k = $5k total.
  • I still didn't buy it. My wife did buy it for her car - this was a great deal. I have used it in her car several times, I can never make it more that 5 minutes without retaking control. Still not for me. I just love to drive.
  • As of today, I can buy AP for $3k and FSD for an additional $7k = $10k total. This is still $1k less than I was told it would be to add it after purchase.
Seems more than fair to me.

I was holding out for $2k after trial to return, but doesn't look like it will anytime soon. Knowing Tesla anything can happen. When did the price drops happen last year?
 
As someone who posted a similar thread before, I understand OP's perspective. That said, it doesn't need to be free- and I understand the myriad responses that take issue with that. That said, I think there are a few ideas worth consideration:
1. If every 3 had AP , there would be fewer software variations/more standardization and the safety statistics would be a nice bonus (and marketing hook).
2. Item 1 could be accomplished through another "sale" - something in the $1,500-$2,000 range would win over a lot of hold-out (myself included). For those of us not planning to keep the car for 5+ years, AP looks like less of a value with every year that goes by (e.g. I have a 2018 and plan to trade it in 2022, so right now I'd only get 2 years of use out of AP. Since I'd likely trade the car to Tesla, I have trouble believing I'd recoop much of the cost since they can "flip the switch" for free).
3. With Item 2 in mind, I really like the idea of a subscription model (monthly would be fine - maybe $50ish). New revenue stream for them, flexibility for the owner.

A monthly premium streaming+AP package would be great. Time to tweet @Elon everyone...
 
At this point, AP is just about par with what many other players offer (traffic aware cruise, lane keep) so given that I'd offer it to those w/o at something more reasonable (yes it is my very own opinion of what is reasonable)

My flame suit is on.

How is Tesla's pay-for AP worth 3k when some of those features come for free, or at a not insignificantly less cost, from a lot of the competition. Given that it comes for "free" in new Teslas, what's to lose by offering it at a more attractive price to those who didn't get it originally for whatever reasons.

I mean look what Tesla just did, grabbed $2k from a bucket load (speculating) of AWD drivers for a a speed boost. Money is money and this is possibly money left on the table.

Free, well sure that would be nice but not only not likely, not reasonable IMHO
 
At this point, AP is just about par with what many other players offer (traffic aware cruise, lane keep)

It's really not.

AP continues to beat the crap out of those systems in every comparison test I've ever seen (including when I've had rentals of other brands).


Most other TACC systems have garbage-long follow distances, even worse stop/resume behavior to 0, etc...

And most autosteer is awful compared to Teslas.

I most recently had a kia rental with their active lane keep assist for example and other than on perfectly straight roads it was more like just using the lane-departure feature bouncing you back toward center once you drifted far enough on a Tesla rather than actual autosteer.
 
It's really not.

AP continues to beat the crap out of those systems in every comparison test I've ever seen (including when I've had rentals of other brands).


Most other TACC systems have garbage-long follow distances, even worse stop/resume behavior to 0, etc...

And most autosteer is awful compared to Teslas.

I most recently had a kia rental with their active lane keep assist for example and other than on perfectly straight roads it was more like just using the lane-departure feature bouncing you back toward center once you drifted far enough on a Tesla rather than actual autosteer.

We can agree to disagree on the quality of the current lane keep and TACC even if you're correct and it's better than the competition. Still not thinking it's worth 3k personally..
 
We can agree to disagree on the quality of the current lane keep and TACC even if you're correct and it's better than the competition. Still not thinking it's worth 3k personally..


Having taken multiple hundreds-of-miles-long road-trips with it (in addition to using it during 90% of my ~80 miles of daily driving almost all highway) I agree it's not worth 3k.

It's worth considerably more.

(indeed it was 5k when I bought it as EAP but the E didn't really add anything useful at the time other than manually-initiated auto lane changing)

It's literally the reason I bought the car.


YMMV of course :)