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There is no way any of these model 3s end up in an autonomous ride share. Especially with only cameras and no LIDAR. I guess it does give them cover for not off

There is no way any of these model 3s end up in an autonomous ride share. Especially with only cameras and no LIDAR. I guess it does give them cover for not offering the option to buy at the end of the lease. Wouldn’t be surprised if they reverse this in 2-3 years.

kylecordes 8y ago
Sometimes I wonder if the much-ballyhooed short-sellers actually work in the Tesla marketing department :-) I know that companies get a lot of flak for saying hedged things. But Tesla could really benefit from some hedging. This pronouncement in absolute terms that there will be no lease-end buyout is ridiculous. It depends entirely on future factors unknown today (to us or Tesla), whether they will give customers the option of buying out when the lease and actually arrives, and they know it. So why not just say so? How about: “Tesla leases do not guarantee the right to buy-out at lease end, because we hope to use some of the after-lease cars for a future ride hailing network.” Sure, it's a few more words to parse. But it would be one less thing for people to complain about. And it would be true and forthright. It is very good to be seen as true and forthright when asking customers to spend tens of thousands of dollars on something.
- pkulak 8y ago
  That doesn't make customers think that FSD is Any Day Now so they'll spring for the option when they order.
- ec109685 8y ago
  > It depends entirely on future factors unknown today (to us or Tesla) How can you be so sure?
- londons_explore 8y ago
  The buy-out price at the end of the lease is set by the lessor. If they don't want to sell, they could just set the price very high. No need to announce that now - in fact, doing so will simply reduce sales.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  Pretty much no other industry uses old hardware for rentals. Go and try to rent a 10 year old car... Can't find any? Turns out while individuals are perfectly happy to drive a 10 year old car, companies prefer no more than 1-2 year old fleets. As well as being more reliable, the service users don't want to find a cassette player in the car, nor years of grime on every surface.
tpowell 8y ago
I don’t understand why they refuse to at least add forward-facing LIDAR. Lane paint sabotage, low-contrast lighting situations and construction are just a few risks that make me nervous to trust autopilot at highway speeds. I say this as someone that is bullish on autonomous driving and in awe of Tesla in general.
- cycrutchfield 8y ago
  >Lane paint sabotage Do you also worry about these saboteurs surreptitiously removing stop signs so that you drive into traffic?
- ec109685 8y ago
  Lidar fixes lane paint sabotage?
dragonwriter 8y ago
> There is no way any of these model 3s end up in an autonomous ride share. Especially with only cameras and no LIDAR. I They could retrofit hardware at the end of the lease when they reclaim the vehicles. OTOH, I'm skeptical about Tesla having an autonomous ride sharing network to use them in when they come off lease.
cycrutchfield 8y ago
It's not like they only have cameras, they also have radar and ultrasonic sensors. Here is a good article on this topic: https://cleantechnica.com/2016/07/29/tesla-google-disagree-lidar-right/ https://cleantechnica.com/2016/07/29/tesla-google-disagree-l...

kylecordes 8y ago

Sometimes I wonder if the much-ballyhooed short-sellers actually work in the Tesla marketing department :-) I know that companies get a lot of flak for saying hedged things. But Tesla could really benefit from some hedging. This pronouncement in absolute terms that there will be no lease-end buyout is ridiculous. It depends entirely on future factors unknown today (to us or Tesla), whether they will give customers the option of buying out when the lease and actually arrives, and they know it. So why not just say so? How about: “Tesla leases do not guarantee the right to buy-out at lease end, because we hope to use some of the after-lease cars for a future ride hailing network.” Sure, it's a few more words to parse. But it would be one less thing for people to complain about. And it would be true and forthright. It is very good to be seen as true and forthright when asking customers to spend tens of thousands of dollars on something.

pkulak 8y ago
That doesn't make customers think that FSD is Any Day Now so they'll spring for the option when they order.
ec109685 8y ago
> It depends entirely on future factors unknown today (to us or Tesla) How can you be so sure?
londons_explore 8y ago
The buy-out price at the end of the lease is set by the lessor. If they don't want to sell, they could just set the price very high. No need to announce that now - in fact, doing so will simply reduce sales.
londons_explore 8y ago
Pretty much no other industry uses old hardware for rentals. Go and try to rent a 10 year old car... Can't find any? Turns out while individuals are perfectly happy to drive a 10 year old car, companies prefer no more than 1-2 year old fleets. As well as being more reliable, the service users don't want to find a cassette player in the car, nor years of grime on every surface.

tpowell 8y ago

I don’t understand why they refuse to at least add forward-facing LIDAR. Lane paint sabotage, low-contrast lighting situations and construction are just a few risks that make me nervous to trust autopilot at highway speeds. I say this as someone that is bullish on autonomous driving and in awe of Tesla in general.

cycrutchfield 8y ago
>Lane paint sabotage Do you also worry about these saboteurs surreptitiously removing stop signs so that you drive into traffic?
ec109685 8y ago
Lidar fixes lane paint sabotage?

dragonwriter 8y ago

> There is no way any of these model 3s end up in an autonomous ride share. Especially with only cameras and no LIDAR. I They could retrofit hardware at the end of the lease when they reclaim the vehicles. OTOH, I'm skeptical about Tesla having an autonomous ride sharing network to use them in when they come off lease.

cycrutchfield 8y ago

It's not like they only have cameras, they also have radar and ultrasonic sensors. Here is a good article on this topic: https://cleantechnica.com/2016/07/29/tesla-google-disagree-lidar-right/ https://cleantechnica.com/2016/07/29/tesla-google-disagree-l...