Autopilot, Adaptive Cruise Control and the Possibility of Retrofitting Existing Cars?

robby said:

My wife and I are very excited about the prospect of purchasing a Tesla. However, much of our driving consists of 160 mile highway trips between Boston and the White Mountains, and I often find myself fawning over having adaptive cruise control for that highway driving. I believe this would make our trips more pleasant and more safe, and as someone who drives cars until they die (currently sporting a '96 RAV4), I would hate to purchase a car and miss this feature by a year or two.

I was wondering if Elon or anybody else from Tesla has commented on whether or not such a system, when it is brought to market, will be available as a retrofitted option? If not, if anybody from Tesla is reading this, we would greatly appreciate if you could offer some commentary. We would be much more comfortable purchasing a Tesla if we know we won't be locked out of this technology when it becomes available.

If others care to speculate we'd love to hear that, too.

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History shows if they offer a retrofit it will be expensive.

Everything can be had for a price.... would probably be more cost effective to get the next model that has this standard or optional

Don't buy the car until it has this feature. I wish everybody would refuse, so Tesla would hurry up and add it! Seriously, I don't understand why they'd build "the car of the future" when so many other cars have these game-changing safety features that Teslas don't have.

Musk recently responded to an "open letter" in some magazine that politely complained about this, and his response was that something was coming soon, although he didn't say what specifically. So, my feeling is he's not stupid and knows he has to have these new safety features on his cars in the very near future. If you really want this feature I think you're safe to wait a year and it will be there. I would NOT recommend buying without it as Tesla charges an arm and two legs for all retro-fits. I wanted folding mirrors - they said "Sure!! $2700.00 please! - for r e a r v i e w m i r r o r s

that's right - M I R R O R S.

If those are important features for you, I would wait AND let them know why you are waiting.

Personal guess here, is that they will have that all on the X. Once that comes out, it will also be available on the S.
I would be shocked if it were not available in two years.

Electricfan said:

Don't buy the car until it has this feature. I wish everybody would refuse, so Tesla would hurry up and add it! Seriously, I don't understand why they'd build "the car of the future" when so many other cars have these game-changing safety features that Teslas don't have.

Musk recently responded to an "open letter" in some magazine that politely complained about this, and his response was that something was coming soon, although he didn't say what specifically. So, my feeling is he's not stupid and knows he has to have these new safety features on his cars in the very near future. If you really want this feature I think you're safe to wait a year and it will be there. I would NOT recommend buying without it as Tesla charges an arm and two legs for all retro-fits. I wanted folding mirrors - they said "Sure!! $2700.00 please! - for r e a r v i e w m i r r o r s

that's right - M I R R O R S.

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You might have got wrong information from the Service Center on the cost of power folding mirrors retrofit. The electrical harness for this retrofit is already installed in your car (based on your VIN number), so the total would be 1224.32 for parts, $1404.32 with labor. You can also request your old (non power folding) mirrors back and sell them on this site, furhter reducing your out of pocket cost. See copy of my invoice for this work:

Concern: Customer states: retrofit of folding mirrors (aware of cost w/o harness)
Total Labor & Miscellaneous Items: 180.00
Pay Type: Customer Pay
Corrections: Install Power Folding Mirrors
Completed installation and programming of folding mirrors (wiring harness were not needed)
Part Quantity Unit Price
SWITCH, WINDOW, POWER FOLD, DRIVER LH (1028641-00-A)
1.00 192.00 192.00
MIRROR, PREMIUM, POWERFOLD, RH (1025657-00-A)
1.00 516.16 516.16
MIRROR, PREMIUM, POWERFOLD, LH (1025658-00-A)
1.00 516.16 516.16
Total Parts 1,224.32
Parts Replaced or Added
1,404.32

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Electricfan said:

Seriously, I don't understand why they'd build "the car of the future" when so many other cars have these game-changing safety features that Teslas don't have.

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That question has been answered by Elon before. Paraphrased: If we waited to put everything on the car that we wanted, it still wouldn't be on the market. We had to decide at some point to stop and just get the car out there.

robby said:

My wife and I are very excited about the prospect of purchasing a Tesla. However, much of our driving consists of 160 mile highway trips between Boston and the White Mountains, and I often find myself fawning over having adaptive cruise control for that highway driving. I believe this would make our trips more pleasant and more safe, and as someone who drives cars until they die (currently sporting a '96 RAV4), I would hate to purchase a car and miss this feature by a year or two.

I was wondering if Elon or anybody else from Tesla has commented on whether or not such a system, when it is brought to market, will be available as a retrofitted option? If not, if anybody from Tesla is reading this, we would greatly appreciate if you could offer some commentary. We would be much more comfortable purchasing a Tesla if we know we won't be locked out of this technology when it becomes available.

If others care to speculate we'd love to hear that, too.

Click to expand...

ALLEGEDLY new vehicles are pre-wired with AV to the mirrors etc for future retrofit. i can let you know when my new one arrives in a few weeks

I'd wait. Retrofits rarely make sense, from either a financial or usability point of view.

I really, really wanted to wait until Tesla came out with AWD. I'm glad I didn't, but I'm sure I will have a pang of regret when the AWD S finally becomes available.

I would like to retrofit some new, improved front seats Musk talked about in Norway early this year. That´s the only thing but I´m afraid it will cost. I´m not talking about the softer springs adjustment.

donv said:

I'd wait. Retrofits rarely make sense, from either a financial or usability point of view.

I really, really wanted to wait until Tesla came out with AWD. I'm glad I didn't, but I'm sure I will have a pang of regret when the AWD S finally becomes available.

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This may seem like a silly question, but I'm not a car guy per se and have always wondered why AWD is such a requested feature on the model S. AFAIK, the only benefit is improved traction, allowing better performance in snow or off-road. Doesn't seem like a big deal for a sedan. Am I missing something?

Chas F said:

This may seem like a silly question, but I'm not a car guy per se and have always wondered why AWD is such a requested feature on the model S. AFAIK, the only benefit is improved traction, allowing better performance in snow or off-road. Doesn't seem like a big deal for a sedan. Am I missing something?

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Well, have you always lived in Florida? :smile:

Everyone has an opinion on this. In my opinion, FWD with traction control is plenty for city and highway use where snow is always plowed. Computer controlled locking differentials are becoming available and further improve traction. You basically get two wheel drive instead of one wheel drive.

Installing all season, or much better yet dedicated winter snow/ice tires, is really more important than AWD. After all, braking and steering are even more important than propulsion. Improved winter traction helps everything.

RWD cars with lots of weight on the rear axle, like the original VW beetle and the Model S are just as good as FWD for drive traction, and for the same reason: weight on the drive axle.

Some people live in the country or travel there in the winter. When you can't count on snowplows, you need AWD and high ground clearance.

GSP

PS. Back to the topic. It is hard to decide to wait for future features like Adaptive cruise or AWD. I would not wait for AWD, but some people are. Waiting a year or two for ACC may be worth it, but you only live once so there is real benefit to having an extra year or two of enjoying the Model S. Ideally get one now and plan to upgrade in 3-4 years.

robby said:

My wife and I are very excited about the prospect of purchasing a Tesla. However, much of our driving consists of 160 mile highway trips between Boston and the White Mountains, and I often find myself fawning over having adaptive cruise control for that highway driving. I believe this would make our trips more pleasant and more safe, and as someone who drives cars until they die (currently sporting a '96 RAV4), I would hate to purchase a car and miss this feature by a year or two.

I was wondering if Elon or anybody else from Tesla has commented on whether or not such a system, when it is brought to market, will be available as a retrofitted option? If not, if anybody from Tesla is reading this, we would greatly appreciate if you could offer some commentary. We would be much more comfortable purchasing a Tesla if we know we won't be locked out of this technology when it becomes available.

If others care to speculate we'd love to hear that, too.

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From worldcarfans.com today:

In an interview with Nikkei, Musk said "Full auto-pilot capability is going to happen, probably, in the five- or six-year time frame." The executive declined to go into specifics but said the system will use sensors and components from other companies but the "overall system and software will be programmed by Tesla." Musk went on to say "I think in the long term, all Tesla cars will have auto-pilot capability."
While fully autonomous Tesla's a still a ways off, Musk said the entry-level Model 3 will feature some semi-autonomous driving technology when it is launched in approximately three years.

While not addressing ACC per se, nor the MS or MX, since we know Tesla currently has a relationship with MobilEye I believe it's reasonable to assume TM will implement fully autonomous driving in a stepwise manner, hopefully starting soon.

robby said:

Do you by chance have a quote for that last sentence? I wonder if he was asked specifically about the M3 or whether he was using the M3 as the timeframe. If the latter, it doesn't bode well for any such features rolled into the X.

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No quote. That's just what worldcarfans.com reported. Presumably someone might be able to find the whole interview with Nikkei. I think when the statement, "all Tesla cars will have auto-pilot capability" is combined with Elon's previous comment about Tesla vehicles will have on-ramp to off-ramp (semi?) autonomous driving in the not-too-distant future, it's pretty clear it's a continuum up to that five- or six-year time frame.

Couldn't find the full interview, but here's the article on Nikkei's website:

Tesla cars will be partially self-driving in 3 years: CEO- Nikkei Asian Review

Unfortunately the original (Japanese) article is behind a paywall.

Yes, I think you are missing something. I like AWD because we not only get a few days per year of snow here in town, but I also drive frequently through the mountains and up skiing. And, I live on a hill-- sure, on the flats, you can get around without it but it makes a big difference on hills.

If I lived in Florida, I wouldn't bother with AWD either.

Chas F said:

This may seem like a silly question, but I'm not a car guy per se and have always wondered why AWD is such a requested feature on the model S. AFAIK, the only benefit is improved traction, allowing better performance in snow or off-road. Doesn't seem like a big deal for a sedan. Am I missing something?

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It would be pretty pathetic if that is what he's saying. This is a feature Infiniti has today (albeit imperfectly) and even GM says they will have within two years.

I think he's talking about truly autonomous, no driver intervention, type of systems, rather than a freeway autopilot.

robby said:

For sure, but this past June Musk stated that onramp-to-offramp technology would be available "within a year" which heavily implied a Model X feature given Tesla's roadmap. I wonder if he was backing off and saying those things may not be available until the Model 3.

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