I agree. On one hand, Autopilot hardware is holding back Tesla from making its cars significantly cheaper, while on the other, the best hardware they've put in

I agree. On one hand, Autopilot hardware is holding back Tesla from making its cars significantly cheaper, while on the other, the best hardware they've put in their cars is still nowhere near powerful enough for a sufficiently safe level of "self-driving". I do think Tesla's attention to detail in regards to crash safety and safety against battery fires is also quite important, and they should keep doing those things for all of their cars, but I don't think those alone require Tesla to make $35,000+ cars. I think they could build a good enough EV for $25,000 right now, and even a cheaper one in a few years. In fact, they should strive for that more than anything else (including AutoPilot). I'm not saying Tesla should end-up building $8,000 EVs - what I'm saying is their threshold should be much lower than it is right now if they still want to remain relevant in the new EV world. Sure, you could argue that Porsche doesn't sell a ton of cars a year, yet everyone knows it, but it's not "relevant" to most people.