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from the fine-print-giveth-and-small-print-taketh-away dept.
People Are Jailbreaking Used Teslas to Get the Features They Expect:
People have certain expectations when they buy a car. For example, they expect it to work for years afterwards needing only basic maintenance. They also expect that the purchase price includes ownership of not only the physical car itself but all the software that runs it.
Tesla doesn't agree.
Last week, Jalopnik ran an article about a person who bought a used Tesla from a dealer—who in turn bought it at auction directly from Tesla under California's lemon law buyback program—advertised as having Autopilot, the company's Advanced Driver Assistance System. The entire Autopilot package, which the car had when the dealer bought it, costs an extra $8,000. Then, Tesla remotely removed the software because "Full-Self Driving was not a feature that you had paid for." Tesla said if the customer wanted Autopilot back, he'd have to fork over the $8,000.
Tesla clawing back software upgrades from used cars is not a new practice for the company. "Tesla as a policy has been doing this for years on salvage cars," said Phil Sadow, an independent Tesla repair professional. One former employee, who used to work in an official Tesla service center and asked to remain anonymous because he still works with Tesla in another capacity, said he was told to put the software features back if people complained to avoid bad publicity. He left about a year ago.
But that doesn't mean Tesla owners are helpless. Sadow and others have ways to push back against Tesla by jailbreaking the cars and getting the features owners feel are rightfully theirs.
"As far as I am concerned removing a paid-for feature, regardless of the state of the car, is theft," Sadow said. "It's as if a bunch of guys show up in a van and take your upgraded 20" wheels. Just because it's software, it's no different."
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @04:01AM (6 children)
I reckon there are better solutions than to mechanically decouple the drive train.
Like an mechanically switch which cuts the main power and some (large current rated) flyback freewheeling diodes on the motor coils which will get you an inductive breaking - the max current in the coils at the value when you cut the power. You'll still need to deal with the heating in the coil - 500kg*(25m/s)2/2 = 156250J - meh, not that bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @05:00AM (5 children)
A good option, although I would also like to have independant brake control (I want both, call me entitled if you like; but I also recognise that no manufacturer will offer both).
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @05:12AM (4 children)
I assumed there must be a simple, friction based, mechanical brake.
Regenerative/inductive braking will be limited on the braking force and one must assume there will be cases in which, damn'd be energy efficiency, one must stop asap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @06:11AM (3 children)
In a world where the Nissan Infiniti doesn't have a mechanical connection between steering wheel and front wheels I'm not confident that's a safe assumption for much longer.
Dynamic braking (as used on trains) is most efficient at high speeds, It gets less so at 20-30km/h. I still want my multicircuit friction brakes - they're still usable even if the assistance goes on holiday.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @07:31AM (2 children)
But of course! Here's how when everything else fails [youtube.com]
(note how this is not a problem that's specific to EV?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday February 14 2020, @08:13AM (1 child)
... Wow!
My post wasn't clear enough - all of my initial specific criticisms were of misfeatures found in infernal combustion engined cars (and 3/4 are in mine).
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 14 2020, @08:19AM
No, apologies, your post was clear. My mind wasn't - with my only excuse being the late evening of a thanks-god-is-friday.
A good thing I can give a miss to anything Valentine related.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford