Nikola, the EV truck company, was full of shit. The truck couldn't drive under its own power. Tesla FSD on the other hand, is just not as good as advertised. Kinda like how a Lindt Truffle isn't velvety bliss, or a 787 Dreamliner is still hard to sleep on, or even BMW's excessively superlative "ultimate driving machine." The 4 cylinder Z3 was a terrible vehicle.
One can wish FSD means perfection in every circumstance all the time, and Tesla certainly implied in its marketing that it is. In reality, FSD is really amazing at times and 'what-the-hell was it thinking' at times. But it does control speed, steering, braking, obstacle avoidance, traffic maneuvering, parking, navigation in a manner that, yes, I would call "Full Self Driving." It is very far from perfect, and Tesla has certainly communicated it as being better than it really is. there's a high dose of caveat emptor, but FSD does a lot more than any other car I've ever driven or owned. The fact that I will not let it attempt to navigate certain intersections, either out of embarrassment or risk of getting hit, does not diminish the fact that my car will give it the ol' college try.
I do think Tesla should get a substantial hand slap though, and should be required to give an extended free trial to everyone to see exactly what it is that FSD can and cannot do, and also give those who purchased FSD outright an extended refund window.
The difference between saying your car is "the ultimate driving experience" and that your car has a "full self driving" mode is the difference between puffery and straight up fraud.
If I asked 100 people what "ultimate driving experience" meant, I would get 43 different answers, 58 of them being people telling me it's bullshit nothingness.
If I asked 100 people what it meant for a car to be "full self-driving," 99 would say it means the car could fully drive itself. The final one is too busy sucking up to Elon.
No, you took the analogy too far. It's just a trademark name that doesn't fully live up to the hype. Let's look at GM's Supercruise, which is marketed as "hands free driving." Well guess what: you still need hands to drive it.
I believe people are being overly dramatic and think they are entitled for Elon's overcommitment. I agree that Tesla overpromised and underdelivered. Meanwhile, I am happy to use and optionally pay for FSD as delivered. It is really an amazing technology and significant.
> The fact that I will not let it attempt to navigate certain intersections, either out of embarrassment or risk of getting hit, does not diminish the fact that my car will give it the ol' college try.
If there are regularly occurring street driving situations it can't be trusted in for safety reasons, even (perhaps especially) it if it "will give it the ol' college try" in those circumstances, I suppose you can argue whether that indicates that it is fraudulent to describe it as "Full Self-Driving" or if it is merely defective Full Self-Driving, but I think that that's a fairly fine distinction in what Tesla has done wrong.
> and should be required to give an extended free trial to everyone to see exactly what it is that FSD can and cannot do
That seems to be exactly the wrong solution for a system which, by your own description, is unsafe in some of the situations one would reasonably expect "Full Self-Driving" to handle.
It does work, though. That's all I'm saying. I totally agree that the marketing implies it should be more reliable. In my experience, in all circumstances, it errs in being painfully cautious, which is where I intervene.
I mean, I pay $200/mo for FSD because I like it so much.
One can wish FSD means perfection in every circumstance all the time, and Tesla certainly implied in its marketing that it is. In reality, FSD is really amazing at times and 'what-the-hell was it thinking' at times. But it does control speed, steering, braking, obstacle avoidance, traffic maneuvering, parking, navigation in a manner that, yes, I would call "Full Self Driving." It is very far from perfect, and Tesla has certainly communicated it as being better than it really is. there's a high dose of caveat emptor, but FSD does a lot more than any other car I've ever driven or owned. The fact that I will not let it attempt to navigate certain intersections, either out of embarrassment or risk of getting hit, does not diminish the fact that my car will give it the ol' college try.
I do think Tesla should get a substantial hand slap though, and should be required to give an extended free trial to everyone to see exactly what it is that FSD can and cannot do, and also give those who purchased FSD outright an extended refund window.