Tesla FSD now at $12,000???

[Chris S]

I have FSD. Paid $5K for EAP w/ the car purchase, then was offered a "deal" to upgrade to FSD for $2K. At this rate, I don't know if I'll ever get value for what I paid for!

I'm surprised the FTC hasn't filed suit against Tesla for this scam.

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[ironpig]

Why not, I'll rant on this. I paid $8k for FSD so might as well get something of value out of it (sarcasm as foreshadowing for what's to come).

Positives
It's cool to have a front row seat for a major technological advancement in humankind.

Even for all the faults, of which there are many particularly in how it's marketed... it's incredibly impressive what Tesla has achieved to-date and the direction they're going in. I'm bullish that Tesla will eventually get there and the technology will have a huge positive impact on the world.

Regular (free) Auto-pilot is a fantastic feature and value. It makes road trips incredibly relaxing and enjoyable. I think Tesla creates a ton of positive consumer surplus for giving that away as free and if anything they could probably charge a modest amount for it as an upgrade if they wanted to.

Reality check
In actuality though, spending $8k on FSD has so far turned out to be a giant waste of money.

The single most useful feature from FSD I actually use is a little chime when traffic lights turn green. The ironic thing about that feature is that it has nothing to do with the car driving itself -- it's literally a reminder to tell the human driver to go And it's completely unrelated to the new FSD beta.

Speaking of the "beta program", it's dangerous AF to use in the city (DC). It really go to any destination in the city without requiring intervention to avoid a serious accident. People pay lots of money to take what's already statistically the most dangerous daily activity you can do (driving a car) and make it way more dangerous. At this point today, FSD feels like a nonstarter for city driving.

On the highway, I've absolutely loved auto-pilot. But the free version is more than great, and in fact paying $8k removed the radar from my car's use, put on the Vision-only stack and caused phantom breaking up the wazoo for 2 months, again causing lots of seriously dangerous situations, until they pushed an OTA update, which I give credit for that for sure.

Outside of auto-steering / city street driving, most other features you pay for I have rarely or never used -- Smart Summon, auto-park, taking on/off ramps on the highway, etc. These aren't value-add for me personally.

I wouldn't pay even $1k for it if I could do it all over again today, much less $12k. To me, it's felt like misleading false marketing at best, and a scam at worst. In some ways it's the biggest Kickstarter project in history.

Conclusion
I'm a huge fan of Tesla and what they're doing. I hate when misinformation are weaponized as FUD against them. I fully support the intent of Elon and the Tesla team.

However, the price is absolutely not compelling for what FSD is today, purely from a consumer's perspective, at least in my personal opinion.

That said, Tesla has gone through so many rounds of price increases, they no doubt have perfectly mapped out consumer willingness to pay on this and know exactly what they're doing by raising the price to $12k, so more power to them.

I think thats a well reasoned opinion. If I had bought my Model S and the FSD beta was an extra $1-2k i probably would have bought it because it would be a novelty. And trying new tech is the fun of it. But I would also know what I was getting and the sad fact is a lot of my friends don’t do the kinds of research we do and they are really pissed now at how much they spent for a beta option they often can’t and shouldn’t use. Some spent 10k because they wanted a “fully loaded” car etc.

On the larger company note - I try to separate Tesla from Elon. Elon does more damage than good these days. And its a huge disservice to the company and its employees that they don’t put other senior leadership in the spotlight like Apple or google do. The fact that they have to stroke the ego of the cult leader and make sure he gets all the credit is often directly aligned with their big failures. He obviously sets goals they never meet. Just think of the money they have wasted on the cyber truck concept car that they still haven’t figured out how to make. They easily could have been the first ones to market with a real RV truck but Elon was focused on just making a big movie prop because he thinks it’s hilarious and now it will likely never be released. (Currently no plans for production. Just like the roadster with with rocket boosters).

 

[Tim-in-CA]

… Just think of the money they have wasted on the cyber truck concept car that they still haven’t figured out how to make.

Let’s also not forget the ridiculousness of the Tesla Bot! Having a guy in a stretch jumpsuit dance on stage and tout crazy made up specs was the epitome of vapor ware!

 

[Dbeglor]

I’m not a Tesla fan or someone who bashes them. I’ve been driving one since 2014. But I am tired of Tesla and their fans who consistently perpetuate lies and potential frauds that not only their own customers at risk but also anyone driving near someone driving a Tesla in “FSD” mode.

Its not debatable that they are selling something called “full self driving” that may never be legal and or functional over the lifetime of the car. It’s just simply wrong and it puts everyone else at risk when Tesla owners enable it.

I'm neither a Tesla "fan" or hater, just giving my opinion. I would think most people using FSD are doing so responsibly, but haven't ever bothered to research, if I even could. Ultimately, it's just an extension of every other driver aid out there, which when not used responsibly is dangerous. I doubt it's often used blindly without paying attention.

But like I said before, I think some buy it for no other reason than it will cost more later, regardless of whether it works or not now.

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