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Comment by lolinder | Hacker News Reader

Tesla's FSD would be better compared to Star Citizen then to a paint job.

If you pay $10K for a paint color, you get the paint color. If you pay $20K for sport brakes, you get the brakes. If you pay $15k for Tesla FSD, you get the hope that Tesla will eventually deliver FSD, much the same as a Star Citizen customer is buying the hope that they'll eventually actually be able to fly their ship in a full game.

You can still argue that the aspiration is worth the money to the customers, or that they're already getting enough value out of the partially delivered product. But I also think it's reasonable for onlookers to think that there's some level of fraud going on, given the constant promises without delivery.

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If you pay $15K today, you get FSD Beta. For some people, the beta is worth the price, even not knowing precisely when it will be more than SAE Level 2.

We are talking about the group of people who system16 criticized for being "happy with having paid for FSD." Other peoples' needs and wants differ, and characterizing those needs and wants as if they are plain wrong is arrogant.

What's the beta used for? If you need to keep your hands on the steering wheel and monitor the FSH I feel it's more of a testing task (which should be performed by qualified personnel) rather than end users on public streets. If the beta software kills someone you are responsible because you didn't stop it on time. Is this something people want?

It is semi-autonomous driving software, so the use cases are what you might expect. For example, I have seen many Youtube videos where people are using it for supervised semi-autonomous drives. Some say that once you're used to its quirks, it's less stressful/easier to drive this way.

In the end, who knows? Who cares? If a customer says they are happy with the purchase, why should someone else tell them they are plain wrong? I can disagree, of course, but I should not tell them they're just wrong for being happy.

I don't tell people they're wrong for paying extra for a special paint color.

>> Some say that once you're used to its quirks, it's less stressful/easier to drive this way.

That's really my problem. You get used with it and start trusting it until it unexpectedly goes straight into that white van.

> should be performed by qualified personnel

The trouble is, nobody can afford to employ a hundred thousand professional test drivers.

I covered that already in my comment:

> You can still argue that ... they're already getting enough value out of the partially delivered product.

I think it's true that some people feel that way, and that's fine. But I agree with OP that the others "who honestly believe 'real FSD is only a year away'" are being taken advantage of if not outright defrauded.

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