I would like Tesla to roll out Autopilot tonight.
This is an utterly pointless demand. It's the same as the Model X reservation holders (delayed for 2 years remember) saying they want the Model X delivered tonight. It'll be ready when it's ready. This sort of demand would make sense if Tesla was withholding it to spite you, but they're not. They're not delivering it yet because it's not ready yet.
If not tonight, I would like them to promise a reasonable timeline and stick with it.
What so you can be disappointed if things don't work out and they miss the timeline? Because that's probably what is going to happen. People said they'd be happy with an update. We got updates as remarks from Elon at various events. Yet this thread rolls on. Because an update wouldn't really solve anything. It might calm people for a while, but after missing repeatedly people would likely be even more upset.
Despite all the shiny demos and Elon suggesting this is easy, this is not an easy problem to solve. If it was all cars would have this technology. I know someone is going to come along and point to a list of cars that have these features. I'll just point you back at the history in this thread where people have pointed out how poorly a lot of the implementations actually work.
I'd like to draw your attention to this quote from the thread with someone that ran into a Tesla employee at a supercharger.
- There appears to be a bit of 'debate' within Tesla over how much the car should pester the driver to stay focused on driving. A 'new' feature just put into the software recently goes quite far towards pestering. This individual really disliked it, and was trying to get it reverted. It has to do with, and is in stark contrast to some statements Elon made a while back. I joked "the lawyers must be getting involved" and the response I got was a slight chuckle. We all will hope this individual gets this change reverted (but I am not so sure Tesla as a company will revert it)
I have good reason to believe this a significant reason for the delay. Ever noticed that in all the slick demos Tesla really didn't demo the interface? How does the car know you're actually paying attention? The truth is that Google is at least partially right. The better the driver assistance features get the worse drivers will be. See the video below for Google's argument against what Tesla is doing.
I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't serious discussions ongoing with regulators about what Tesla had planned. If they can't convince the regulators that what they're giving us is safe then there's a very good chance that they'll put rules in place. Rules that very well might force Tesla to take the feature away or make it not as nice to use. So I'm guessing they're probably taking their time to make sure they don't give and then take it back. I'm sure we all remember how people reacted to the air suspension height being raised. I'm sure the reaction to such a change would be even worse.
Someone will again point out that other cars have these features. I'm just going to point out that Elon has a different philosophy about how this feature works, see his comments about keeping your hand on the steering wheel.
I would also like them to be a bit more honest in their marketing.
Be clear on their website what is current, what is future, and what future means.
I'll admit that reading the website to me seems fairly clear, but I've already got a background on what's available. I've also go a lot of context from just my understanding of software in general. So I think I have overestimated the clarity of what's on the website. I'd guess Tesla has done the same thing. Yes this means I'm somewhat stepping back from things I've said in the past. So absolutely the website should be improved. I'd encourage you to write Ricardo Reyes (I'm sure you can figure out his email) and ask for that. He's in charge of communications he can make that happen.
I've seen Tesla do poor things from the perspective of the customer many times. They are not saints. But I don't think they are trying to deceive anyone. Sometimes I think that a significant amount of the problem is that Elon is a little too honest and open sometimes. He gives his estimate for availability. It turns out to be wrong. He shouldn't have given it and then we don't hear anything from him until he's at some announcement, public appearance or earnings call and then he gives another honest assessment. This is only made worse by the fact that Elon seems to have the personality of a very optimistic person. Tesla probably wouldn't exist as it does today if it wasn't for that. SpaceX certainly wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that.
But none of this is done out of an intent to deceive. That of course doesn't change much from the customer perception. Tesla employees in my experience try to put things right but some things there's not a lot you can do. You can't ship software that isn't ready. You can't give 9 months of production (I'm guessing around 25k cars) a $2500 refund (comes out to $62 million).
So in my view the best anyone can hope for here is that Tesla makes the website clearer and works to be better about communication in the future. That's a realistic goal.
Getting Autopilot tonight, an accurate prediction on the availability, a refund for Autopilot, free ludicrous mode or any other sweeping compensation is simply not likely. You might have an employee give you some merchandise but given the number of impacted people I doubt you'll even get that. If those sorts of things are the only thing that will make you happy then you might as well talk to a lawyer. Yes I'm telling people to sue Tesla, not because I think they should or because I think they'll get anything out of it. But because it really is their only option if these sorts of demands are what they want. Though I'll note that getting specific performance (i.e. forcing Tesla to deliver auto pilot) is almost certainly not going to happen.
Personally, I've learned through the urging of people here after my own frustrations with Tesla earlier to own my own happiness. Tesla doesn't have to make me happy, I do. I'm happy with what I've got now (despite having spent a hunk of money to swap a 2 month old car for Autopilot) and I'll be happy when they finally deliver the auto steering technology. If you can't do that for yourself then until Autopilot is done I don't think Tesla can make you happy.
. I am just enjoying debating Autopilot with smart people on this forum. (Some are really bad at math though!).
