After stating that Tesla would not allow owners to move fully autonomous driving capability to new vehicles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreed today that Tesla would allow them to do so for “one more quarter. “
Tesla has been promoting its FSD formula for many years, to the point that many early homeowners drove multiple cars without the software being delivered in full working order.
These owners can use Tesla’s FSD Beta, now called the Supervised FSD, but no Tesla owner has yet used a true fully autonomous driving formula that allows the car to drive itself without human intervention.
So many of those owners have constantly raised their voices, wondering why they buy the same software again when they buy a new car, if the software never arrived with the previous vehicle.
This is particularly tricky given that FSD’s acquisition value is now higher than that of many of those early owners, although it has recently declined.
So, last year, Tesla allowed FSD transfers, but only for two months, and it would never happen again.
This was seen at the time as a way to increase demand, rather than as an example of Tesla “doing the right thing” and allowing owners to retain eventual access to software they had paid for but never delivered.
Then, once that generation ended, Tesla finally reinstated the FSD movement this year, allowing it to place new orders through the end of the first quarter. And then, again, this “one size fits all” was reinstated.
But after that, on Tesla’s quarterly call in the first quarter, it was asked if the FSD move could be made permanent, and the answer was a resounding “no. “
However, at today’s shareholder meeting, Musk was asked by an interested party if we could have an FSD move for “one more quarter,” rather than permanent. Musk was a bit hesitant in response, stating that it was “complex” to allow movements as a component of Tesla’s sales. However, after some back and forth, Musk ended up saying “okay, one more quarter. “
We don’t have the main points yet, as just announced at the shareholders’ meeting (which just ended), but we will hear more main points about how this program will work soon.
We don’t have to have this discussion every quarter.
Until FSD can deliver on its promise, transfers will be free for anyone who has purchased the software.
Any other company that sold software upfront and then refused to hand it over would not be viewed with benevolence, especially if that software charges thousands of dollars and is years behind schedule.
“Until FSD is able to deliver on its promise, transfers will be free for anyone who has purchased the software. “
This, 1000%
Yes, nowadays other people can use anything Tesla calls FSD. Little by little, he performs a greater task and acquires more skills. But it doesn’t drive the car completely, it doesn’t work without intervention, it can’t be invoked nationwide, it can’t be used as a robo-taxi to generate revenue (a promise Musk made today), or a host of other statements that didn’t come true. And Musk has continuously said that he will be able to fully drive the car “in about a year. “- for many years.
It’s time to stop forcing landlords. If the challenge is complicated, and more complicated than I thought, that’s one thing. But incentivizing other people to buy more software licenses that you’ve already sold them and haven’t shipped yet is not acceptable.
And it’s not about “doing the right thing” for landlords. The right thing to do would be to make the transfers permanent until point five of autonomy is reached. Even the “effective permanence” of ongoing offers like this has more to do with driving the call. during peak periods at the end of the quarter, leading consumers to believe that a limited-time offer is like some sort of carpet store going bankrupt.
But perhaps Tesla homeowners probably don’t want to rely on Musk’s “goodwill” to grant them the ability to keep the software they previously licensed for a long time, as there are several court cases related to Tesla’s FSD false advertising that can have far-reaching consequences. effects on how Tesla sells this software and what rights its owners might have.
Jameson has been driving cars since 2009 and writing about them and about blank energy for electrek. co since 2016.
You can contact him at jamie@electrek. co