Greetings. A discussion about this was started over in the Firmware 6.2 thread, but probably doesn't quite belong. I had also been planning a post about this around now anyway.
If you've kept up with my gripes over the P85D, you'll know I had a somewhat arbitrary grace period in mind for Tesla to release the auto pilot lane keeping functionality. Let's face it, this is really the main thing everyone wants. A lot of features have been added which use most of the hardware, but none of them can be considered "autopilot" just yet, which is the line item on my vehicle's options.
That grace period I had in mind for Telsa for the release of lane keeping has come and gone now. So, I'm starting to put out emails outlining my concerns as a first step towards deciding how to proceed.
With nearly 8000 miles of driving planned for June through September, autopilot was definitely a key factor in my decision to trade up from my P85 at a much higher than negligible cost. When I described my summer driving plans to anyone at Tesla throughout the purchase process I was reassured quite a few times that the feature would almost certainly be usable by then. 2000 miles into my June to September chunk of driving plans and that feature is still not available.
I know Elon had mentioned at the shareholder meeting that beta testers would maybe get access to the new software towards the end of June, but this doesn't affect me at all (despite unsolicited recommendations for addition to the EAP from multiple Tesla service managers). So it doesn't change the date I had marked on my calendar regarding this. (I guess they could add me now and I'd have to shut up under NDA... but, doubtful they'd do that. lol)
The auto pilot lane keeping was demonstrated nearly 10 months ago. At that time the Tesla website said that the features would be completed and rolled out over "several months." A couple of optimistic Tesla employees I spoke with at the time even very optimistically interpreted this to potentially be by the time I took delivery of the P85D or soon thereafter. Realistically I figured it would be in my hands, so to speak, by the end of Q2'15, and this seems more than reasonable to me and others I spoke with for a paid feature that was already publicly demonstrated.
Now it is Q3'15, over 6 months after delivery, and still no lane keeping. I'm willing to let a lot slide, overall, with regard to the P85D... from real world range being nowhere near what Tesla had advertised when I placed my order to advertised horsepower numbers not actually being achievable. But the autopilot lane keeping feature was the showcase feature of the new hardware suite. It was (and still is) part of a paid extra option that many, if not nearly all, opted for.
By Monday I'll be ready for my P85D's first annual service based on mileage. That means 1/4 of my factory warranty is done already... a warranty that covers the autopilot hardware. Well, part of that hardware, the auto steering hardware, has never even been able to be used, yet even if autopilot were fully activated Monday 25% of the warranty on that hardware would be gone. TACC was released quickly enough to perhaps give Tesla a pass on the couple thousand miles I had on the car at the time with regard to the rest of the autopilot hardware... but this is a bit much to let slide for the auto steering.
I've reached out to Jerome with my concerns, who has in the past been very responsive, however an auto responder places him out of the office until August. I've also reached out to a few different Tesla employees that I've established good relationships with, with the same concerns, and am awaiting a response on where they suggest my concerns should be escalated.
I plan to continue to respectfully address this all with Tesla personally as much as possible as time allows over the next several weeks. Honestly, I don't expect a resolution to come from any of that contact, and I highly doubt we'll see autopilot lane keeping updates (publicly) even this summer... Essentially, if the car doesn't do a main thing I purchased it for (autopilot for my thousands of miles of summer driving), then, as mentioned previously, I'll most likely consider legal recourse. This is definitely something in the realm of a class action case if pursued, and I'm not against that if needed to press this further at that time. (Edit: Stop reading so much into this. This is an absolute last resort if Tesla becomes unreasonable. I believe they are a reasonable company and that legal action will not be needed. However I'm not going to waive my right to pursue it, here or elsewhere. See more below)
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if others are considering even more drastic tactics, like jumping straight to legal action. I wouldn't blame them, as it's within their rights to do so. I've been pretty frustrated with Tesla regarding a lot of things surrounding the P85D. They're not building a whole lot of good will and credibility here with all of the missteps.
Honestly, I don't expect this post to have any effect on Tesla's timeline (or lack thereof) for the release of autopilot. I figured I would address my concerns and how I'm proceeding here, and perhaps other equally frustrated early adopters may do the same.
Frankly, to solve this and solve it now, Tesla is going to need to release autopilot and it's going to need to "wow" everyone to the point where concerns are alleviated and essentially forgotten due to the sheer awesomeness of the new features. They still probably have a small window of time in which to pull that off. I, and likely a bunch of others, would likely oblige. But more delays and eventually the "wow" factor it's not going to matter enough, and there will be consequences for Tesla both legal and image wise. If I finish the vast majority of my summer driving without autopilot functionality then that will be it for my personal good graces on the subject.
Here's hoping they get it done and pushed.
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I feel like this needs reiterating as apparently some people are jumping to conclusions.
If you've kept up with my gripes over the P85D, you'll know I had a somewhat arbitrary grace period in mind for Tesla to release the auto pilot lane keeping functionality. Let's face it, this is really the main thing everyone wants. A lot of features have been added which use most of the hardware, but none of them can be considered "autopilot" just yet, which is the line item on my vehicle's options.
That grace period I had in mind for Telsa for the release of lane keeping has come and gone now. So, I'm starting to put out emails outlining my concerns as a first step towards deciding how to proceed.
With nearly 8000 miles of driving planned for June through September, autopilot was definitely a key factor in my decision to trade up from my P85 at a much higher than negligible cost. When I described my summer driving plans to anyone at Tesla throughout the purchase process I was reassured quite a few times that the feature would almost certainly be usable by then. 2000 miles into my June to September chunk of driving plans and that feature is still not available.
I know Elon had mentioned at the shareholder meeting that beta testers would maybe get access to the new software towards the end of June, but this doesn't affect me at all (despite unsolicited recommendations for addition to the EAP from multiple Tesla service managers). So it doesn't change the date I had marked on my calendar regarding this. (I guess they could add me now and I'd have to shut up under NDA... but, doubtful they'd do that. lol)
The auto pilot lane keeping was demonstrated nearly 10 months ago. At that time the Tesla website said that the features would be completed and rolled out over "several months." A couple of optimistic Tesla employees I spoke with at the time even very optimistically interpreted this to potentially be by the time I took delivery of the P85D or soon thereafter. Realistically I figured it would be in my hands, so to speak, by the end of Q2'15, and this seems more than reasonable to me and others I spoke with for a paid feature that was already publicly demonstrated.
Now it is Q3'15, over 6 months after delivery, and still no lane keeping. I'm willing to let a lot slide, overall, with regard to the P85D... from real world range being nowhere near what Tesla had advertised when I placed my order to advertised horsepower numbers not actually being achievable. But the autopilot lane keeping feature was the showcase feature of the new hardware suite. It was (and still is) part of a paid extra option that many, if not nearly all, opted for.
By Monday I'll be ready for my P85D's first annual service based on mileage. That means 1/4 of my factory warranty is done already... a warranty that covers the autopilot hardware. Well, part of that hardware, the auto steering hardware, has never even been able to be used, yet even if autopilot were fully activated Monday 25% of the warranty on that hardware would be gone. TACC was released quickly enough to perhaps give Tesla a pass on the couple thousand miles I had on the car at the time with regard to the rest of the autopilot hardware... but this is a bit much to let slide for the auto steering.
I've reached out to Jerome with my concerns, who has in the past been very responsive, however an auto responder places him out of the office until August. I've also reached out to a few different Tesla employees that I've established good relationships with, with the same concerns, and am awaiting a response on where they suggest my concerns should be escalated.
I plan to continue to respectfully address this all with Tesla personally as much as possible as time allows over the next several weeks. Honestly, I don't expect a resolution to come from any of that contact, and I highly doubt we'll see autopilot lane keeping updates (publicly) even this summer... Essentially, if the car doesn't do a main thing I purchased it for (autopilot for my thousands of miles of summer driving), then, as mentioned previously, I'll most likely consider legal recourse. This is definitely something in the realm of a class action case if pursued, and I'm not against that if needed to press this further at that time. (Edit: Stop reading so much into this. This is an absolute last resort if Tesla becomes unreasonable. I believe they are a reasonable company and that legal action will not be needed. However I'm not going to waive my right to pursue it, here or elsewhere. See more below)
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if others are considering even more drastic tactics, like jumping straight to legal action. I wouldn't blame them, as it's within their rights to do so. I've been pretty frustrated with Tesla regarding a lot of things surrounding the P85D. They're not building a whole lot of good will and credibility here with all of the missteps.
Honestly, I don't expect this post to have any effect on Tesla's timeline (or lack thereof) for the release of autopilot. I figured I would address my concerns and how I'm proceeding here, and perhaps other equally frustrated early adopters may do the same.
Frankly, to solve this and solve it now, Tesla is going to need to release autopilot and it's going to need to "wow" everyone to the point where concerns are alleviated and essentially forgotten due to the sheer awesomeness of the new features. They still probably have a small window of time in which to pull that off. I, and likely a bunch of others, would likely oblige. But more delays and eventually the "wow" factor it's not going to matter enough, and there will be consequences for Tesla both legal and image wise. If I finish the vast majority of my summer driving without autopilot functionality then that will be it for my personal good graces on the subject.
Here's hoping they get it done and pushed.
----
I'll reiterate that legal action is a last resort and is definitely NOT the preferred path here, nor is it being pursued at this time, nor do I intend to pursue legal action right now. I am not, however, dismissing legal action as a potential avenue for resolution.
I fully expect Tesla to come up with some gesture of good faith towards those of us who have been more than patient on the matter that will quell the need for any legal action for at least some time.
Like I said... an official progress update would be nice. A statement that warranty on autopilot hardware wouldn't start counting down until after 7.x was released would be more than enough for me, personally. Offer to refund/disable autopilot cost until it is available (as mentioned above). Something. Anything that proves that us early buyers weren't just victims of a marketing ploy and I would be happy. I'm sure most others would as well.
I feel like this needs reiterating as apparently some people are jumping to conclusions.
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