Or, especially the first one, would already have been there from the very beginning.
But I see the advantage of Tesla's approach. On the other hand I can sign up with our family Peugeot for regular updates for free for, it was, 2 years or so. Not over the air the registration is a pain. But it's not that it isn't there.
No. That braking problem would have plagued ANY car manufacture. The only difference it there would have been a mad rush of people setting up service appointments at dealerships all over the country to get it fix -- costing time and money for everyone involved. Tesla did OTA updates, no fuss.
My Chevy Volt has had two software updates in the past 6 years.. not user noticeable improvements. I love my car but the car I was sold in 2013 is the same (problems and all) car I have now. My friends who have had their TM3s for over a year have drastically improved cars in almost every aspect.
On the flip side, my Nissan's connectivity module was 2G based and deprecated by the carrier shortly after the car was built. Nissan offered a free upgrade and I was eligible but I only knew about it because I'd read something on a forum referencing a service bulletin that I never received despite being the registered owner of the vehicle. The excuse being that the bulletin must have been lost in the mail.
No, it was made by Marc Andreessen in reference to how software companies were taking over. It had nothing to do with replacement of humans.
https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world...
The OP's comments are spot on IMO.
Tesla is presenting a new model for automobiles where your car isn't outdated every year by a new trim design or every 5-7 years by a generational uplift. Instead your car evolves as you own it and enhancements are made incrementally both to the software and hardware rather than being held back for annual or generational releases.
In the less than 6 months I've had my Tesla Model 3 it has had software updates to:
- improve braking performance
- increase surpercharger performance
- increase power output, speed, and acceleration
- increase range
- enhanced automatic electronic braking
- enhanced lane departure warnings
- add dashcam recording capabilities
- add deterrence, video monitoring, and logging security features
- add climate control management for pets
With a traditional car company all of those things would be added incrementally in subsequent years or not at all.
*edited for clarity.