41 ms·

> Tesla charges $5,000 for Autopilot's lane-keeping and advanced cruise control features. On top of that, customers can pay $3,000 for what Tesla describes as "

by danso 9y ago

> Tesla charges $5,000 for Autopilot's lane-keeping and advanced cruise control features. On top of that, customers can pay $3,000 for what Tesla describes as "Full Self-Driving Capability." Is $5,000 what owners of other cars pay for similar driver-assist features?

geoelectric 9y ago
It's a little high, compared to the last couple of cars I purchased with those features. Want to say that $3k was more in line with what I paid for a full safety/tech package, and that included a speaker/nav bump, etc. Keep in mind that most cars (including my two examples) only really have lane centering and adaptive cruise, though, as far as driver-assistance features go. Tesla's ability to change lanes and do basic highway nav is above and beyond the norm. I'd probably pay another $2k for that. Also, the way most of these packages work, you often can't get them a la carte--they're on top of another package, so the effective cost might actually be $5k depending on how that's structured. Paying $3k for vapor that won't arrive before I sell the car/return the lease would piss me off, though.
- mst 9y ago
  Given Tesla's track record to date, it seems to me that not-yet-ready features should mostly be treated as a kickstarter.
audionemesis 9y ago
"Is $5,000 what owners of other cars pay for similar driver-assist features?" Although at its core, that's what Autopilot is (nothing more than Lane-Keep Assist and Adaptive Cruise-Control), to leave it at that is not giving it enough credit. Tesla's Autopilot is far beyond any other manufacturer's drive-assist features that I have personally driven (and I tested quite a few before purchasing my Model S). In fact, a lot of people are saying that how well the assist features work is part of the reason why we saw the unfortunate fatality where the Model X ran right into a median. It is so good that people (wrongly) begin to place too much trust into it, and don't pay attention when they need to. When I first got my car (Feb 2017), it was shortly after the big MobileEye departure, and TeslaVision was still in its infancy. Never in a million years would I have taken my hands off the wheel or stopped paying attention when using this early version of TeslaVision AutoPilot. That thing tried to kill me more than once. The current version works very, very well and I'm totally happy with having paid and additional $5,000 for it.
michaelt 9y ago
In order to sincerely claim a car has the hardware needed to support a full self-driving capability the car would need several LIDARs, several good quality cameras, a high-precision GPS receiver, and a respectable Inertial Measurement Unit. If you get all that hardware, $5,000 is a great price; back in 2005, any one of those components would have set you back that much. Of course, if Tesla doesn't have that full complement of sensors - and from the price, they might not have all those sensors - the promised self-driving capabilities may never materialise.
- dingo_bat 9y ago
  > In order to sincerely claim a car has the hardware needed to support a full self-driving capability the car would need several LIDARs, several good quality cameras, a high-precision GPS receiver, and a respectable Inertial Measurement Unit. No, it needs decent cameras with coverage in all directions. That's all what a human needs so that's enough hardware.
  - michaelt 9y ago
    Of the vehicles that completed the DARPA Grand Challenge and the DARPA Urban Challenge, how many do you think used LIDAR on their vehicles? I'll tell you: 100%. Out of 11 teams finishing, every single one used LIDAR. And I'll tell you why too: With LIDAR you need much simpler algorithms, and that directly translates into fewer bugs, meaning fewer instances of your vehicle crashing into stationary concrete barriers on clear days.
    - dingo_bat 9y ago
      It just means your AI is not intelligent enough. The hardware is sufficient, as proven by billions of humans.
  - danso 9y ago
    Humans use more than eyesight to successfully drive.
rimliu 9y ago
I think the latest Honda Civic offers it for $1000 in US (gor the lower end trims that do not include it by default). There in Europe I think all trims have this (ACC, LKAS, CMBS).
mannykannot 9y ago
Well, the point of the article is that the "full self-driving capability" is not actually available yet, and there is no firm delivery date (AFAIK, that's so for the whole industry, not just Tesla, but I think Tesla is the only manufacturer selling it.)
- danso 9y ago
  Sure, but the suite of driver-assist features (e.g. lane assist) for $5,000 is available for Tesla and its competitors, though most reviews say that Tesla is currently leading the pack.

by danso 9y ago

geoelectric 9y ago

It's a little high, compared to the last couple of cars I purchased with those features. Want to say that $3k was more in line with what I paid for a full safety/tech package, and that included a speaker/nav bump, etc. Keep in mind that most cars (including my two examples) only really have lane centering and adaptive cruise, though, as far as driver-assistance features go. Tesla's ability to change lanes and do basic highway nav is above and beyond the norm. I'd probably pay another $2k for that. Also, the way most of these packages work, you often can't get them a la carte--they're on top of another package, so the effective cost might actually be $5k depending on how that's structured. Paying $3k for vapor that won't arrive before I sell the car/return the lease would piss me off, though.

mst 9y ago
Given Tesla's track record to date, it seems to me that not-yet-ready features should mostly be treated as a kickstarter.

audionemesis 9y ago

"Is $5,000 what owners of other cars pay for similar driver-assist features?" Although at its core, that's what Autopilot is (nothing more than Lane-Keep Assist and Adaptive Cruise-Control), to leave it at that is not giving it enough credit. Tesla's Autopilot is far beyond any other manufacturer's drive-assist features that I have personally driven (and I tested quite a few before purchasing my Model S). In fact, a lot of people are saying that how well the assist features work is part of the reason why we saw the unfortunate fatality where the Model X ran right into a median. It is so good that people (wrongly) begin to place too much trust into it, and don't pay attention when they need to. When I first got my car (Feb 2017), it was shortly after the big MobileEye departure, and TeslaVision was still in its infancy. Never in a million years would I have taken my hands off the wheel or stopped paying attention when using this early version of TeslaVision AutoPilot. That thing tried to kill me more than once. The current version works very, very well and I'm totally happy with having paid and additional $5,000 for it.

michaelt 9y ago

In order to sincerely claim a car has the hardware needed to support a full self-driving capability the car would need several LIDARs, several good quality cameras, a high-precision GPS receiver, and a respectable Inertial Measurement Unit. If you get all that hardware, $5,000 is a great price; back in 2005, any one of those components would have set you back that much. Of course, if Tesla doesn't have that full complement of sensors - and from the price, they might not have all those sensors - the promised self-driving capabilities may never materialise.

dingo_bat 9y ago
> In order to sincerely claim a car has the hardware needed to support a full self-driving capability the car would need several LIDARs, several good quality cameras, a high-precision GPS receiver, and a respectable Inertial Measurement Unit. No, it needs decent cameras with coverage in all directions. That's all what a human needs so that's enough hardware.
- michaelt 9y ago
  Of the vehicles that completed the DARPA Grand Challenge and the DARPA Urban Challenge, how many do you think used LIDAR on their vehicles? I'll tell you: 100%. Out of 11 teams finishing, every single one used LIDAR. And I'll tell you why too: With LIDAR you need much simpler algorithms, and that directly translates into fewer bugs, meaning fewer instances of your vehicle crashing into stationary concrete barriers on clear days.
  - dingo_bat 9y ago
    It just means your AI is not intelligent enough. The hardware is sufficient, as proven by billions of humans.
- danso 9y ago
  Humans use more than eyesight to successfully drive.

rimliu 9y ago

I think the latest Honda Civic offers it for $1000 in US (gor the lower end trims that do not include it by default). There in Europe I think all trims have this (ACC, LKAS, CMBS).

mannykannot 9y ago

Well, the point of the article is that the "full self-driving capability" is not actually available yet, and there is no firm delivery date (AFAIK, that's so for the whole industry, not just Tesla, but I think Tesla is the only manufacturer selling it.)

danso 9y ago
Sure, but the suite of driver-assist features (e.g. lane assist) for $5,000 is available for Tesla and its competitors, though most reviews say that Tesla is currently leading the pack.