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Comment by Shivetya | Hacker News Reader

it is the one shameful act I have to encourage people to ignore when using the Tesla site. the truth is they don't need to do this to sell their cars, it just looks tacky.

to be honest it is stunts like this where regulation does come in handy. like how we have truth in lending laws for home loans and even cars.

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I don’t think it’s the only “shameful” thing unfortunately. The claim of cars being capable of FSD is pretty clearly nonsense, although I recognize that some true believers will take some more years to accept that. Still, I think most of us have figured out that full automation isn’t right around the corner, and unless we posit that Musk is an idiot (he isn’t) then he knows that too.

My dream for Tesla is thst Musk is gone, soon, because while he appears able to start great things, he’s a pretty lousy leader (and person) beyond that. I look at SpaceX and see something great that for the most part, does its thing because Musk isn’t around. I look at Tesla and I see him screwing around on Twitter, lying, and generally being a drain on the company. Tesla has too much good going on to make stupid promises about FSD or bullshit about their pricing.

ObMeta: here it seems FSD means "Full Self-Driving".

> Still, I think most of us have figured out that full automation isn’t right around the corner, and unless we posit that Musk is an idiot (he isn’t) then he knows that too.

Except that just the other day Musk went on record (on an earnings call?) saying that Tesla's would be capable of "full self driving, coast to coast, this year"...

Uff, wincing facepalm. That man needs to close his mouth.

I would bet 85% odds that Tesla is eventually going to offer a refund to all current Model 3 owners who "pre-purchased" self driving. In fact, that's the event that is more likely to happen "coast to coast, this year".

Calling it now: There will be an "autopilot hardware v2." And Tesla will have to dig deep to pay back all that pre-purchased FSD cash, probably plus extra to stave off a class action lawsuit, which is its own risk.

I would love to see full self driving, but I don't trust that hardware. I would love to see Tesla succeed, but I fear that Musk himself will bring it down.

He isn't necessarily lying, and there won't be a lawsuit.

The "self-driving" will be made available, both in hardware and software. It just won't be usable on roads (because every state will immediately outlaw it).

Few owners, brave enough to try it in spite of regulations, might discover some notable flaws... But hey, — no one promised you a perfect self-driving! You will be able to "self-drive" in couple of dedicated cities or around wilderness in the middle of nowhere (with modest risk of damaging vehicle), and that's supposedly what everyone has paid for. Musk won't be held responsible for restrictive laws, — he most likely anticipates that and hopes precisely for that.

You can be very very smart and still make boneheaded mistakes. Musk has been being lauded as a genius long enough to begin believing in his own infallibility. I don't think he's lying. I think he believes it. To be fair if he had promised to do what he's already done before he did it no one would have believed that either.

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