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On paper, there are some great Tesla competitors. For most people and their use cases, Tesla wins. Commuting? Autopilot is the best driver assistance. Road trip

On paper, there are some great Tesla competitors. For most people and their use cases, Tesla wins. Commuting? Autopilot is the best driver assistance. Road trips? Meet the supercharger network. Racing? $56k for an absolute track machine. Double that for a literal hyper-sedan. I can see other manufacturers gaining market share, and I think Tesla will eventually fall into the niche that Apple occupies for phones—not necessarily better on paper, but much better design and execution.

CraigRood 5y ago
Apple point is probably the most important one to really understand Teslas role. The car industry is going electric, fact. Phones are all touch screen, amazing cameras etc.. Tesla will be the 'fashion' brand everyone wants, and desires. Yes a Ford/Samsung might be nice, and have certain technical points that are better, but you won't be able to beat the end to end experience and desirability of Tesla/iPhone. Tesla will be the status symbol that your Fords of the world can never be. Mercs are quite popular around these parts and are a status symbol today, but the premium on a Tesla, design, features and just pure speed tops all comparable Mercs.
- fomine3 5y ago
  The difference is that upper brands Mercedes/BMW/Porsche are exist in car market but not in smartphone market. I wonder Tesla just join the club, replace the club, or replace Toyota/Honda/Hyundai club.
  - leereeves 5y ago
    Toyota and Honda are popular for reliability, build quality, longevity, and low TCO. Tesla has a lot of work to do if they hope to replace those brands.
theluketaylor 5y ago
I have a tesla and autopilot is not the best L2 system out there. That crown belongs to GM with Supercruise (though they are doing their best to squander the technology by not racing to get it into every car they make). Supercruise allows hands free operation and properly tracks user attention, 2 things autopilot doesn't do. It also has a much safer disconnect behaviour by slowly and safely pulling the car over to the side of the road rather than expecting the user to just take over.
- brianwawok 5y ago
  Cabin cameras are a thing now, I am fully expecting Tesla to allow hands free soon(tm). We will see. > . It also has a much safer disconnect behaviour by slowly and safely pulling the car over to the side of the road rather than expecting the user to just take over. Maybe? What happens if the shoulder is not really a shoulder, but part of a hill? What happens if no shoulder at all? Being rear-ended on a highway for going too slow is a thing. The disconnect behavior I generally see is AP turns off, but TACC stays on. So you stay in your lane, staying a safe distance back, but no more lane changes. I believe if AP is really mad at you, it eventually will stop, but I don't want to stop on a highway to test it out.
  - theluketaylor 5y ago
    supercruise is geofenced to laser mapped highways (over 250,000 miles already mapped), so it knows exactly where to safely pull over. GM was just showing off supercruise while towing: https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/41643/super-cruise-hands-free-towing-in-the-2022-gmc-sierra-is-like-commanding-a-freight-train https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/41643/super-cruise-hands-f... Autopilot could add any and all of these things, but right now supercruise is the best L2 system available.

CraigRood 5y ago

Apple point is probably the most important one to really understand Teslas role. The car industry is going electric, fact. Phones are all touch screen, amazing cameras etc.. Tesla will be the 'fashion' brand everyone wants, and desires. Yes a Ford/Samsung might be nice, and have certain technical points that are better, but you won't be able to beat the end to end experience and desirability of Tesla/iPhone. Tesla will be the status symbol that your Fords of the world can never be. Mercs are quite popular around these parts and are a status symbol today, but the premium on a Tesla, design, features and just pure speed tops all comparable Mercs.

fomine3 5y ago
The difference is that upper brands Mercedes/BMW/Porsche are exist in car market but not in smartphone market. I wonder Tesla just join the club, replace the club, or replace Toyota/Honda/Hyundai club.
- leereeves 5y ago
  Toyota and Honda are popular for reliability, build quality, longevity, and low TCO. Tesla has a lot of work to do if they hope to replace those brands.

theluketaylor 5y ago

I have a tesla and autopilot is not the best L2 system out there. That crown belongs to GM with Supercruise (though they are doing their best to squander the technology by not racing to get it into every car they make). Supercruise allows hands free operation and properly tracks user attention, 2 things autopilot doesn't do. It also has a much safer disconnect behaviour by slowly and safely pulling the car over to the side of the road rather than expecting the user to just take over.

brianwawok 5y ago
Cabin cameras are a thing now, I am fully expecting Tesla to allow hands free soon(tm). We will see. > . It also has a much safer disconnect behaviour by slowly and safely pulling the car over to the side of the road rather than expecting the user to just take over. Maybe? What happens if the shoulder is not really a shoulder, but part of a hill? What happens if no shoulder at all? Being rear-ended on a highway for going too slow is a thing. The disconnect behavior I generally see is AP turns off, but TACC stays on. So you stay in your lane, staying a safe distance back, but no more lane changes. I believe if AP is really mad at you, it eventually will stop, but I don't want to stop on a highway to test it out.
- theluketaylor 5y ago
  supercruise is geofenced to laser mapped highways (over 250,000 miles already mapped), so it knows exactly where to safely pull over. GM was just showing off supercruise while towing: https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/41643/super-cruise-hands-free-towing-in-the-2022-gmc-sierra-is-like-commanding-a-freight-train https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/41643/super-cruise-hands-f... Autopilot could add any and all of these things, but right now supercruise is the best L2 system available.