Other than marketing, are they really ahead of the competition?
GM Supercruise is the only other thing on the market that is comparable, and with Nav on Autopilot I'd argue Tesla is a fair bit ahead.
Maybe they are not ahead of Waymo, but can you buy a Waymo? If not then when will you be able to?
There is Comma.ai which I am impressed with and think will be the general autonomous solution to many (most?) non-Tesla cars going forward, but their product at the moment is for hobbyists and not consumers.
No, they convinced fanboys that they turned it into a software problem. The reality is they are no different than any other auto manufacturer. Being in Silicon Valley doesn't change that.
An electric Camry would sell so much more than the model 3.
Also while I am a Tesla fanboy, I work in automotive technology and interface with many of the major car companies daily, so I'm not just getting this from articles.
and why is being able to push updates to heavy machinery that we routinely have moving at speeds of 60+ MPH a good thing?
If you can fix the brakes via software update you can break them too.
I'm fine with it if someone going to prison when a software update kills people.
Tesla turned the car into a software problem, and I would argue they have demonstrated they are WAY WAY ahead of the major OEM's at software and in the infrastructure supporting it.
Not to mention extremely sleek and well loved design, autopilot, etc. To just make a Camry electric won't be enough ( though it definitely will take some of the market share ).