Business Insider recently published an essay from Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur and friend of Elon Musk, who expressed his disappointment with Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” claims. Despite being a major Tesla fanboy, Wadhwa admits he has “been duped” by Musk’s farcical “full self-driving” claims.
Business Insider published an essay titled “I was a Tesla fan but I feel like I’ve been duped by Elon Musk’s self-driving claims. I’ll never buy another Tesla again,” by entrepreneur and friend of Elon Musk, Vivek Wadhwa, who has been a huge Tesla fan for years. Wadhwa stated that after meeting Musk at a party and becoming friends he has repeatedly defended Musk, even calling himself a “Tesla fanboy” and earning Musk’s endorsement of his first book.
Wadhwa stated that he was one of the first to receive a Tesla Model S after being blown away by the 2016 video of the company’s “Enhanced Autopilot” self-driving feature. He was interviewed by PBS News Hour about the car’s capabilities but during filimg, the car almost crashed while on Autopilot.
Now, Wadhwa is speaking out about Tesla’s claims that its cars are “Full Self-Driving,” and Musk’s continuous delay of updates and actual full autonomous driving features. Wadhwa writes:
This self-driving software feels dangerous. I don’t think cameras are enough. Elon made a bad decision to discontinue the use of radar in his cars, and now it feels like the car is partially blind and doesn’t have enough data now to be able to see what’s going on.
Elon doesn’t want to admit it. He just keeps saying “any day now, any day now,” but he’s been promising autonomous driving for years. I don’t think FSD will ever be what he’s said it would be.
I’m supposed to have FSD. I bought it, but he’s not updating the early versions of the cars. Tesla won’t upgrade my car — they just ignore me.
The first generation of people who jumped on board with FSD have been completely ignored. I feel like I’ve been duped. I want my money back. The current price for FSD is $15,000. They could pay me $15,000 and I’d stop complaining. I would join a class-action lawsuit in a heartbeat, without a second thought.
Breitbart News has reported extensively on crashes involving Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” feature.
Wadhwa finishes the essay by stating that he will never buy another Tesla again, not just due to the danger but due to the poor customer service offered by the company.
Read the full essay at Business Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan