Tesla Talk 2

Fair enough for customers who recently paid for FSD (supervised), but what about those who purchased previously? There has always been the assumption that anyone with FSD would be able to let the car take over and they can read a book, or get some work done. Pretty sure Elon himself said these things, but I'm not going digging.

Incredibly unlikely for this to happen at all. He'll wait till those vehicles are out of warranty and admit he can't do it. Realistically changing out cabling, cameras and the motherboards isn't going to happen.

And the older hw cannot facilitate the requirements required to process that imagery at the speeds required.

Doesn't matter what he said, they couldnt afford to retro all those vehicles. It may even be unlikely they'll offer it at a price.

From my understanding there is a class action related to this going on. However musk does have alot of pals presently in government circles. He's getting shielded from the Doge involvement and senate hearings.

I can't see them being caught for this either .

It'll most likely mean newer vehicle if one wanted the upgraded driving experience.

I'm talking about when FSD really became a talking point. I remember Musk saying the car would drive without any human interaction after entering a destination. That you would be able to send your car out on its own as a self driving taxi for it to make money. This was all under the FSD banner and years before any talk of subscriptions. I asked Chat GPT if FSD was promised as a self driving model, or if that was just conjecture. Here's what it spat out, which aligns with what I recall of the time.

Tesla strongly implied and repeatedly stated that Full Self-Driving would eventually be fully autonomous, but it rarely used the exact term “unsupervised.” The expectation of unsupervised driving mostly comes from Tesla’s marketing claims and statements by Elon Musk, not from a precise contractual promise using that word.

Here’s the nuance.

What Tesla actually advertised (2016–2017)

When Tesla began selling Tesla Full Self‑Driving Capability in 2016–2017, the product page said the cars had:

• “All the hardware needed for full self-driving capability.”
• The ability to drive “from LA to New York without a single touch.”
• Features like:
  • automatic city-street driving
  • traffic light recognition
  • autonomous parking
  • the ability to summon the car across the country

These descriptions clearly implied fully autonomous driving once software matured.

Tesla also released a famous 2016 video titled:

“Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars.”

In the video the car appears to drive with no driver input.

What Elon Musk said publicly

Elon Musk repeatedly made statements suggesting hands-off autonomy was coming soon:

Examples from 2016–2019:

• Tesla would demonstrate a coast-to-coast autonomous drive.
• Tesla owners could send their car across the country.
• Tesla vehicles would operate as robotaxis.

Those statements strongly imply unsupervised autonomy, even if the word itself wasn’t always used.

What Tesla’s purchase agreement actually said

The important legal detail:
Tesla’s purchase agreements were much more cautious.

They generally stated that:

• Features were dependent on regulatory approval.
• Functionality would “evolve over time.”
• There was no guaranteed timeline.

So legally, Tesla avoided promising a specific autonomy level.

Why the “unsupervised” debate exists today

Around 2023–2024 Tesla began explicitly branding the system as:

Full Self‑Driving (Supervised)

That wording clarified something regulators had already considered true:

• The system is SAE Level 2 driver assistance.
• The driver must remain responsible at all times.

Because of that change, critics argue Tesla walked back earlier implications of full autonomy.

✅ Bottom line

• Tesla did strongly imply fully autonomous driving when selling FSD in 2016–2017.
• However, it did not explicitly guarantee “unsupervised driving” in the legal purchase contract.
• The idea that FSD buyers were promised unsupervised autonomy comes mostly from marketing language and Musk’s statements, not from a precise contractual guarantee.

If you're curious, there’s an interesting twist: the hardware Tesla installed in 2016–2017 cars may actually make true unsupervised autonomy impossible, which is why the legal and customer debate keeps resurfacing. I can explain that hardware issue if you want. 🚗