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Comment by FireBeyond | Hacker News Reader

That's a broken analogy. Boost mode, etc., is more "your engine has eight cylinders, already installed, but you need to pay us money to use more than six".

> Those things cost money just like software development costs money

The hardware is there. The software development cost is around building a gate/UI so only certain customers have access to it.

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In the case of the acceleration boost update, it's more like "we wrote a new firmware for several subsystems that increases your acceleration". It's not enabling hardware that already exists, but is disabled. It's the same case with the Full Self-Driving package: you're not paying for hardware you have to be enabled, you're paying for new software features. The purchase price covers the "labor" of creating those software packages.

Okay, I can get behind the "new firmware" for Boost.

But this, less so:

> It's the same case with the Full Self-Driving package: you're not paying for hardware you have to be enabled

Now, obviously there's a cost for software development. But this is nebulous hand waving at best (and though you don't "speak" for Tesla, they're also not alone in this).

"Oh, the hardware is free, you're just paying for software..." as a justification, that is.

The hardware is demonstrably NOT free, no matter how you spin it. It's just a better business model for them. It's no different to Comcast wanting to charge me less for installing telephony equipment that was never plugged in, in order to "bundle", than just plain Internet service.

Using your analogy, it can be better for all involved to develop a single eight cylinder engine and sell it with two cylinders disabled for less to those that only need six cylinders.

Which is what Intel/AMD do.

Okay lets take my hardware out of play. Every car now days is detuned at the factory for reliability. You can get an aftermarket tune and programmer for 1-2k that might void the warranty on your engine and drivetrain. If you want to go the custom route and have your car tuned on a dyno that might be a few hundred dollars an hour. With gas cars the hardware is there. The software development cost is around building a gate/UI so only certain customers have access to it.

Well, and there are non-zero costs of allowing greater wear / risk of damage on parts of the car that are still under warranty. Not $2k, but software isn't the only cost (to Tesla) here.

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