Tesla tells HW3 owner to 'be patient' after 7 years of waiting for FSD (electrek.co)

by breve 214 comments 224 points
Read article View on HN

214 comments

[−] iugtmkbdfil834 27d ago
Full disclosure. I am currently shorting TSLA so take what I am about to post with an appropriate amount of salt.

I gotta say I am continuously amazed how much Musk is allowed to get away with. I know he can get some things done and he is, apparently, skilled manager, fund raiser and bs'er of epic proportions, but I have a hard time understanding how all this didn't catch up to him yet.

[−] nickvec 27d ago
As it turns out, having unfathomable amounts of wealth lets you get away with just about anything.
[−] 2OEH8eoCRo0 27d ago
He has immense wealth from fraud and he is able to commit fraud because of his immense wealth.
[−] MattDamonSpace 27d ago
Rockets land
[−] disqard 26d ago
Elon can remain a successful bs'er longer than you can remain solvent... or something like that.
[−] DANmode 27d ago
You don’t get away with it.

If you can’t walk into a pizzeria on a whim (thinking about sama this week), you no longer have your freedom.

[−] b00ty4breakfast 27d ago
The freedoms afforded by obnoxious wealth far outweigh the loss of anonymity. These folks could buy an entire franchise of pizzerias on a whim and have them transported to a chain of private islands in the Pacific.

The myth of the tortured life of the rich and famous is a joke.

[−] UncleMeat 27d ago
Especially given it is a choice. There are ample billionaires who avoid media. The tech billionaires choose this.
[−] mfru 25d ago
Even more especially given it is a choice to be a completely unempathetic prick who thrives on being controversial and edgy
[−] hn_user82179 27d ago
I don't follow, can Musk not do that? Also who/what is sama?
[−] eco 27d ago
It's Sam Altman's HN username.
[−] DANmode 26d ago
Without security?

Sure - but it’s a risk that people of the unknown variety don’t have.

[−] xracy 26d ago
Feels like the world that he created by hoarding vast sums of wealth, and limiting people's free speech, and cutting social safety net programs that put more and more people at risk as the world becomes less and less stable.

I would much rather have lived in the world where he could walk into a pizza place without security and fear. But I also would much rather have lived in the world where people had healthcare and they didn't have to fight companies like UHC tooth and nail to avoid getting their claims denied at every turn.

And the stability of this all comes from trust in Government regulation. Which he gutted, when he gutted the programs that were targeting him for committing fraud.

[−] DANmode 26d ago

> I would much rather have lived in the world where he could walk into a pizza place without security and fear.

I’m not sure I would.

I think I’m okay with there being some remaining consequences for things you do to other people,

even if what you’ve done is legal.

[−] xracy 25d ago
You misunderstand me.

> I think I’m okay with there being some remaining consequences for things you do to other people,

I would rather live in the world where they hadn't done those things to other people. Not that I would rather people forgive them and let them into a pizza shop. It's a pizza shop, who cares, they have a million other ways to get pizza if they want it. Ostracism is the last response we have for the wealthy doing unacceptable things.

[−] Traubenfuchs 27d ago
You can have a private chef make you michelin level pizza in the stone oven in the kitchen of your private jet though.
[−] beng-nl 27d ago
Sounds like a prison. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t like that if i couldn’t appear in public. A luxury prison, but a prison nonetheless.

(Having the money would be nice, of course.)

[−] DANmode 27d ago
Can you also have private and vetted strangers eat and mingle around you,

so you feel like less of a pariah?

[−] M95D 27d ago
Sure, but who would want that?
[−] DANmode 26d ago
Not me, that’s for sure.
[−] shye 26d ago
Yes. I know a person that used to work in casting for such events.
[−] DANmode 26d ago
My point was,

you’re still a social outcast,

no matter how much expensive Truman Show you set up around you.

[−] gessha 27d ago
I have a VC fund to pitch you. Need a co-founder? /s
[−] DANmode 26d ago
I actually do,

but I like to serve humans, not serve humans.

[−] CamperBob2 27d ago
What's the old saying, again? "Musk can remain untouchable longer than you can remain solvent."
[−] iugtmkbdfil834 27d ago
:D As Abraham Lincoln once said, one cannot trust anything on the internet. Still, it is a carefully considered risk. I certainly didn't put money on it I am not ready to actually lose.
[−] cj 27d ago
If it's true that Musk is getting rules changes so that SpaceX can be included in the S&P earlier than the current rules allow, I think there's a non-zero chance of Musk falling even more out of favor than he currently is, if not worse (if the SpaceX IPO ends up losing people money in the first 1-2 years)
[−] reactordev 27d ago
The hype train will ensure the SpaceX IPO is successful beyond the 2nd year mark. Musk keeps making these moves because he knows, he doesn’t want it catching up to him. Better to offload the risk to Wall Street.
[−] cosmicgadget 27d ago
I don't imagine anyone is trying to manipulate TSLA with an HN comment so I consider your position to be putting your money where your mouth is.
[−] stackghost 27d ago
Hey maybe he actually is a genius. After all, he committed securities fraud at least twice and so far has suffered zero consequences.
[−] yabutlivnWoods 27d ago
He's not a genius.

The elder generation of politicians he manipulated were educated in their day in historical allegory and gospel

Leadership is ignorant and clueless. No idea how "check the work" so to speak. Didn't matter to them. Trickle down made them rich. They ultimately began to encourage it

Congress is predominantly nihilists who pretend to believe in American norms to secure power

[−] platevoltage 27d ago
The more money you have, the more you can get away with, and he has the most money. Capitalism baby.
[−] CamperBob2 26d ago
"Everything I don't like is capitalism."

I don't like it either, but it's not capitalism. Nothing Musk has done would have been possible without active support from governments putting their fingers on the scale.

[−] platevoltage 26d ago
Right right right. You're going to argue that Crony Capitalism isn't Capitalism. Heard that one before.
[−] stringfood 27d ago
well he is the wealthiest most powerful person in the world right now, mainly because of SpaceX - I think this gives him plot armour until his eventual demise in 8.3 years
[−] wjnc 27d ago
He should try to cancel the original purchase agreement on the grounds that now the functionality is available Tesla has demonstrated no intention of delivering it to him, thus voiding the original agreement. Normally if a judge agrees, you get a full refund without controlling for depreciation.

Class actions in the Netherlands mostly favor lawyers.

[−] LunicLynx 27d ago
I guess that’s the point, FSD is not available. What you buy is lvl 4/5 available is lvl 2+.

I think, this is a calculation to understand if an upgrade of hw3 to hw4 actually solves the problem or if hw3 must be updated to hw5.

One upgrade is more economical than two, but I would be annoyed for sure as well.

[−] nerdsniper 27d ago
The definition of what “Tesla FSD is has changed over time. Earlier buyers were promised more, so they have a stronger case on that basis as well.
[−] burnte 27d ago

> I think, this is a calculation to understand if an upgrade of hw3 to hw4 actually solves the problem or if hw3 must be updated to hw5.

HW5 is unlikely to solve FSD.

[−] LoganDark 27d ago
Doesn't canceling the original purchase agreement mean you have to give the car back?
[−] redwall_hp 27d ago
That sounds like even more of a win.
[−] akmarinov 27d ago
Yeah but it’s a 7 year old car, if it’s a Model 3 it’s around 20000€, nowhere near the original price
[−] LoganDark 25d ago
If they purchased the car 7 years ago I doubt they got it for that price. GP says "without controlling for depreciation"
[−] OoooooooO 27d ago
I don't know US law but if the contract is void the original purchasing price would have to be given back in most countries.
[−] MasanskY01 27d ago
You mean 13k (got the offer some months ago. Probably less now). That includes VAT by the way. On a VAT-car
[−] bmitc 27d ago
I would love for everyone with a Tesla to do that.
[−] embedding-shape 27d ago
Here is the website where you (as a European) can gather and hopefully help provide more weight to the matter if you were among the ones that were promised something you're not gonna receive: https://hw3claim.nl/

It's run by the person mentioned in the article, and unsurprisingly the domain is Dutch, but seems the same thing will apply in lots of countries if FSD rolls out there too, not just Netherlands.

[−] codechicago277 27d ago
Maybe Elon can argue that no reasonable person would have taken his FSD promises seriously.
[−] Veserv 27d ago
Their lawyers already did that and got it ruled that Tesla’s statements are unbelievable lies and thus Tesla is not liable for deceiving customers or the public.

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/califor...

On page 16, the judge states that the defendants, Tesla, argued: “Defendants also assert that several Safety Statements are corporate puffery. For example, statements that safety is “paramount” (FAC ¶ 325), Tesla cars are “absurdly safe” (id.), autopilot is “superhuman” (FAC ¶ 337), and “we want to get to as close to perfection as possible” (FAC ¶ 363). Mot. at 19.”

[−] WA 27d ago
Not a lawyer, but pretty sure shit like that doesn’t fly in the EU.
[−] laweijfmvo 27d ago
it worked for fox news!
[−] SV_BubbleTime 27d ago
And MSNBC in court.
[−] daveguy 27d ago
Thank Fox for paving the way for inserting your opinion in news. Did you not know that Fox did it in court first?
[−] SV_BubbleTime 27d ago
I offered no opinion.
[−] daveguy 27d ago
I wasn't talking about anything related to your opinions. I was pointing out that Fox had to claim "entertainment" in court for their opinion commentators long before MSNBC. Because you disingenuously implied that MSNBC was somehow the opinion news that had to admit in court their coverage included opinions.

In case you forgot you replied to "It worked for fox news [claiming opinion]" with "And MSNBC in court."

Since you clearly misread or purposely misconstrued my statement, let me rephrase:

"Thank Fox for paving the way for inserting ones opinion in news. Did you not know that Fox had to do it in court first?"

[−] VertanaNinjai 26d ago
You seem to be waging a war of words with someone who merely said “also these guys did it too”.
[−] daveguy 26d ago
You seem to be fair and balanced, just like your buddy.
[−] alHqn 27d ago
It will come right after terraforming Mars is complete, which will be next year. We will also have UBI and all illegal immigrants on Republican farms will have been replaced by Optimus robots.
[−] skywhopper 27d ago
I’m forever dismayed that no government agency has cracked down on Tesla’s endless fraudulent claims. It’s a shame people were falling for it 7 years ago, much less today, but only the governments can enforce actual fairness.
[−] Mobius01 27d ago
It would require an administration that had a modicum of care for the average consumer/taxpayer, and the current one isn’t it.
[−] senordevnyc 25d ago
FSD was a sham under Biden too though.
[−] jijojv 27d ago
Paid twice into Full Scam of the Decade since 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3HCTVk3qME driver is just there for legal reasons)
[−] rubiquity 27d ago
I have both HW3 (2021 Y) and HW4 (2025 3). FSD in the HW4 is a delight. FSD in HW3 phantom brakes constantly both back when FSD was a pile of C++ and now with the "Lite" driving model. I don't see how Tesla can ever make FSD suitable on HW3 given the hardware (<200 TOPS).
[−] adocomplete 27d ago
Bought FSD with my Model 3 back in 2018 here in the states. FSD still not delivered and no realistic timeline. Tesla is hoping we upgrade or sell car, but luckily we don't drive much and plan to keep it as long as it keeps running, so they'll have to make us whole eventually.
[−] ricw 27d ago
But how? In the states you can’t even take legal action but are forced into arbitration?
[−] xnx 26d ago
Many legal contracts include provisions to forfeit the right to trial.
[−] ndsipa_pomu 26d ago
How does it work if the contract hasn't been fulfilled by Tesla? Wouldn't that nullify the entire contract and Tesla would have to return the full price paid and presumably collect the car.
[−] zackify 27d ago
I'm one of these unlucky owners. I can't believe I'll ever get anything.

After paying the full cost and being stuck on old software that had a promise of having the hardware required for it

[−] iamjake648 27d ago
Same here. I would totally be fine if HW3 FSD was reduced to $50 a month, but charging the same $100 as HW4 is insulting at this point.
[−] ProllyInfamous 26d ago
How much does it bother you that despite your vehicle [most likely] shipping with active lidar, the Tesla executiveteam decided to not write software for its modern usage? More or less than the decade of "available next year"s?
[−] Flatcircle 27d ago
rode with my friend from San Francisco down to San Diego in his Tesla, and he literally didn't touch the wheel or the pedals the whole time. Then a couple days later we drove back the same way.

People don't talk about these cars driving themselves enough imho

[−] hazelnut 27d ago
Did a trial for a month. It's indeed very impressive but at the same time, it's also very stressful because you don't know how the car is going to react. So I was on constant alert if there were any tricky situations. After some time, it became exhausting and more draining then manual driving.
[−] kube-system 27d ago
It is a great feature, but, ADAS is by definition not self-driving, no matter how capable it is at manipulating the controls. The lowest level of self driving is level 3, where the human is responsible for supervision less than 100% of the time but greater than 0% of the time. Tesla FSD is level 2 and requires the human driver to supervise operations of the ADAS system 100% of the time.

https://www.faistgroup.com/site/assets/files/1657/j3016-leve...

While FSD's manipulation of controls is impressive -- it is missing a very critical component that is required for self driving: the ability to guarantee whether or not it can make a safe decision. Tesla's FSD still offloads this task to the human driver. Once they can do this more than zero percent of the time, they will have achieved level 3.

[−] darth_avocado 27d ago

> People don't talk about these cars driving themselves enough imho

It’s because driving on the freeway isn’t FSD, it’s a better version of cruise control, and other companies also offer similar capabilities. Within a city, the thing is a shitshow. It does random things all the time and it’s almost a larger cognitive burden on me to constantly be on the lookout for it to make mistake where I have to take over vs me just driving the car myself. For me specifically, it’s just impossible to drive because it fails to recognize curved streets and a couple of other irregularities just within blocks of where I live.

[−] bastawhiz 27d ago
I regularly ride down I-40 and back in North Carolina in my Rivian. I don't touch the wheel from the moment I get on the highway until the moment I get off, pretty much, unless I decide to take a rest stop. The universal hands free is as good or better than what my old Tesla had, and it'll get updates while a 2019 Model 3 almost certainly won't.

On the other hand, when I got FSD trials in the model 3 in the last year or so, it never managed to get more than ~a mile without me having to disengage.

[−] vel0city 27d ago
I've driven from Dallas to Houston barely having to touch the wheel or pedals the whole way. I don't own a Tesla.

Other brands have had self driving features for years now. Some even operate at a higher level of automation.

[−] freeAgent 27d ago
He should have been touching the wheel. Tesla nags you if you don't exert varying force on the wheel, so it's not possible for him to not touch the wheel during the trip unless he was using some sort of defeat device.
[−] shrubble 27d ago
I'm literally ready to pay cash for a Tesla, once they make one that doesn't have a steering wheel at all.

If I can't go to sleep lying down on the seat as a sole occupant, it's not yet self driving.

[−] Rohansi 27d ago
The big issue is that Tesla has sold all of their cars with an option for FSD until a month or two ago, but everything before 2023 is basically confirmed never going to actually have FSD because the latest software cannot run on the hardware in the old cars.

What's worse is this is all going to end up happening again when HW5 comes out and all of the HW4 cars start getting a trimmed down version of the FSD software from HW5, like HW3 is currently receiving.

[−] xracy 26d ago
Yeah, why don't people talk about how my model s tried to drive itself into oncoming traffic more? Not just anyone can drive themself into oncoming traffic.

But like, actually the reason is that the cars consistently make dangerous decisions when they're not being used as "glorified cruise control", and the sensors mean they only even get to do that during "perfect driving conditions"

[−] vostrocity 27d ago
Not a Tesla fan or owner here, but I tested a friend's HW3 Model Y on FSD (Supervised) and it was completely competent. Not sure why EU owners seem to not have it.
[−] kingleopold 27d ago
this is funny because roadstar is no longer coming ever and they paid even more deposit there.
[−] jrochkind1 27d ago
Is the amount of money they'd have to refund if they just refunded everyone prohibitive, or is it more of an image/messaging thing, admitting you, erm, took them for a ride? It's clear those customers are never going to get it.
[−] mlmonkey 27d ago

> 3,000 owners from 29 countries signed up — representing over €6 million in FSD purchases.

The math doesn't work out. It should be \euro 20,000,000 in FSD purchases, no?

[−] gigatexal 27d ago
So many people worshipped the jobs distortion field but it was nothing compared to the gaslighting Elon has been able to do with Tesla. The man promised things he couldn’t deliver over and over and over again and investors are it up turning his company into a meme stock devoid of any kind of fundamentals.
[−] enslavedrobot 27d ago
I have HW3 in Canada and I use FSD everyday. It regularly drives me for my entire commute with no interventions.

The fact that FSD in Europe has been massively delayed is mostly the fault of regulators.

Sad but true.

[−] josefritzishere 27d ago
Telsa appears to be doing crime. The EU does have clas action lawsuits. I expect one way or another Elon will have to issue refunds.
[−] deckar01 27d ago
[dead]
[−] s5300 27d ago
[dead]
[−] daft_pink 27d ago
I think the government is going to have to get involved for FSD from any manufacturer to actually take place.
[−] dmix 27d ago
The article is about a Dutch owner of an older Tesla who bought with the intention of using FSD (supervised) with HW3 but the government has not approved it's use for that model so the person can't use it.

You can use FSD with HW3 in other countries like Canada.

[−] Freedumbs 27d ago
[flagged]