I think a lot of people saw it like a very, very, very expensive Kickstarter. They paid $10k to help make it happen. As is often the case with Kickstarters, it didn't match the hype.

It's not purely speculative. Just hopped on their site to check, these are the features they say you get immediately today:

* Navigate on Autopilot

* Auto Lane Change

* Autopark

* Summon

* Full Self-Driving Computer

* Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control

When Cadillac's Super Cruise option is $2,500, $10K is still a huge premium, but it doesn't look like you can get those features independent of the FSD package from Tesla.

That’s a lie. None of these features actually work. It’s all total bullshit, intended to stave off the inevitable FSD lawsuits. They have pulled off one of the most brazen growth hacks ever. As someone who fell for it, I hope some justice is coming eventually, but I’m not holding my breath

Which part is a lie? You can get those features without paying the $10k?

Saying you get these features today is a lie. They’re all utterly unsafe and clearly nowhere near finished.

I don't know how it compares to Super Cruise but Autopilot is a standard feature now, you don't have to pay anything extra for it.

I don’t think that’s directionally wrong. I bought my first Tesla and all subsequent Tesla’s in part to support the global move to electric vehicles.

I buy the FSD to help move us in that direction. I’m actually happy with their progress so far and I recognize they have a loooooong way to go.

They are making great progress as is the industry as a whole both in electrics and driving Capabilities.

Not op but I’ll give my reply anyway fwiw.

$7k (x 2) at the time, reason was to help Tesla survive. Was not expecting anything else for my money in the next few years.

Nowadays Tesla’s survival seems more assured, so if I did it today, it would no longer be for that reason.

Some people pay for it thinking that it will be much more expensive later.

I question this thinking though, because once it’s possible, it will be a table stakes feature we take for granted on every car, which means it shouldn’t add a huge bump to the price. But maybe I’m thinking about it wrong.

> $7k (x 2) at the time, reason was to help Tesla survive.

Man there is something truly remarkable about Musk that he successfully convinced some people to, in effect, treat Tesla, a for-profit company, as a charity and to donate to them thousands of dollars with no expectation of anything in return.

Any other company would just raise money from investors, whether those be institution or from main street via the stock or bond markets.

But Tesla just sold folks a dream and they bought it, allowing Tesla to generate cashflow without Musk having to worry about pesky shareholders or dilution or even delivering a working product.

I suspect that phenomenon will be studied in business school for years to come.

Yeah, Musk is the second richest man on the planet, but somehow he's also always begging for cash. Reminds me of a former massively wealth president of ours who begged donors to fund his campaign. Two peas in a pod.

I did get something in return, and the car has arguably saved my life once or twice, so there’s that.

You paid your money to help a company survive? Why not buy the stock instead?

Yes that would have been a better move, in hindsight.

How does buying the stock help the company survive?

Because stocks are owned by third parties, usually.

I wanted long freeway rides and driving in stop and go traffic to be less painful. I wanted to be able to watch my $10k in February 2021 turn into something really cool within a year.

Honestly, I think I’m safer with auto steer on. I’ve had the car hit the brakes when someone turns across my lane and I felt it was too conservative, but then I started wondering if I was too aggressive.

I wanted to watch my Model Y get smarter as OTA updates came in.