For years, this controversial billionaire sold the dream of autonomous driving as something that was about to arrive.
Without going any further, Tesla buyers between 2019 and 2023 were made with vehicles with hardware 3, ensuring that they would be compatible with the system Full Self-Driving (FSD) using a simple software update.
However, in January 2025, Musk released the bomb: those electric cars will need a new computer or system to achieve promised autonomy.
This statement fell like a jug of cold water, since many customers had paid about $ 12,000 for the FSD, trusting that its tesla would one day one day a robotaxi. Now they discover that, to fulfill that promise, they must, once again, pay an extra of which they were not aware.
The problem is not new and in 2019, Tesla has already forced models with 2.0 and 2.5 hardware to update their systems. The difference is that now affects newer vehicles and a promise that Musk repeated for almost nine years. The situation begins to tire for many users.
«It will be difficult»: Tesla faces its greatest credibility crisis
Worst of all is that all this stir and the admission of Elon Musk arrives at the worst moment. Tesla was already living enormous criticisms for the fall in sales after the controversial participation of his CEO in American politics. Now, The ghost of deceptive advertising demands reappears.
In conference with investors, the billionaire was clear: «We will have to improve hardware computers 3. It will not be easy or pleasant.» The plan includes a pilot program in Austin, Texas, with the new hardware 4, but the details about how and when the old vehicles will be updated remain very much in the air.
The ironic thing is that, technically, not even hardware 4 still offers totally autonomous driving. The regulations in the US and, above all, Europe, still prohibit circular without human supervision, something that clashes straight ahead with all the talk that Tesla used to sell the FSD.
For experts, Musk always played with ambiguity between ‘Autopilot’ and ‘Real Autonomy’, but comment that now that it is time to fulfill and finds that technology is not up to its promises.
Meanwhile, in forums of owners of Tesla begins to fire by the mouth mentioning precisely that payment of more than $ 10,000 for that assumption and promised FSD. Now they find a car that does not work for what they promised.
The Tesla Cybertruck is not sold or gifted: «Let’s dig our own tomb»
Curling the curl of all this problem, the truth is that there are more problems for Elon Musk in terms of Tesla. Without going any further, he warned it in 2023: «Let’s dig our own tomb with the Tesla Cybertruck.» And, two years later, it seems that his words were premonitory.
After a start of a lot of talk and advertising, with almost two million reserves, the most viral and controversial electric pick-up in the market is living a huge collapse in sales that no one, or almost nobody, expected.
In 2024, its first full year in the market, Tesla sold only 39,000 Cybertruck units, a figure that clearly is well below the initial expectations.
Assembly/Pexels
The truth is that this vehicle was born with the intention of being Tesla’s flagship, a car that demonstrated everything the company was able to do.
But the problems began from the beginning: Production delays, technical failures and a price that went from promised $ 40,000 to more than $ 72,000 for the most basic version.
The big and huge problem lies in the commercial approach of the vehicle. Instead of positioning it as an exclusive and limited model, Tesla tried to turn it into a massive supervents, giving rise to all kinds of failures: from defective pedals to pieces that came off during driving. In addition, the seven calls to review during their first year did not help improve their reputation.
Not even the incentives that Elon Musk has launched to make one of these have served. Tesla offered free recharges for life for those who buy the most expensive versions – up to $ 110,000 – but this has been, once again, an authentic failure.
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Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Prices, Electric Car, Tesla, Elon Musk, Autonomous Car