Elon Musk Verbally Attacking His Tesla Customers?
Elon Musk just cannon stay out of the headlines. In the latest news, he allegedly flung verbal insults at a Tesla customer.
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Elon Musk can’t catch a break in the press these days. Whether unjustly firing hundreds of employees or backing out of his purchase of Twitter, the Tesla CEO has had tremendous public scrutiny. Musk is currently making headlines for scolding a Tesla driver online who gave warranted critique about the self-driving subscription service.
Electric car companies nationwide are trying out subscription-based programs for their autonomous vehicles. Elon Musk is the most recent CEO of a car corporation to implement the service. Though Musk has encouraged construction feedback, he was not too happy about one Twitter user’s videos pointing out a flaw in the service. The Tesla owner, James Locke, posted videos on his Twitter profile demonstrating issues and explaining how the Full-Service Driving software wouldn’t work correctly.
After Locke stated that the right-turn signal and switching-lane apparatuses weren’t working, Elon Musk responded from his Twitter alias. Musk retorted that the FSD software had a premature release for a reason, encouraging the customer not to subscribe to “early beta releases and then complain.” Though it’s not unusual for Musk to log on to Twitter and instigate a tirade, many are confused about the Tesla CEO’s prior statement about welcoming criticism. Apparently, the FSD software is too touchy of a subject for Musk to respond to professionally.
FSD software operates within a subscription-based service that’s not cheap to purchase. Tesla customers can either buy the software for $15,000 extra or subscribe to the $199 monthly payments. Locke stated that he paid over $32,000 on the FSD feature but is currently paying for the auto-driving software via the monthly service. That’s a lot of money to get defective software, which is why Locke made the Twitter videos in the first place. His dissatisfaction with the expensive accommodation rubbed Musk the wrong way, but Locke has yet to respond to Musk’s reactionary comments.
Electric car companies like Tesla have been playing with the idea of autonomous driving over the past several years. Though the FSD function is to automate the driving experience successfully, it does not mean that the car is fully autonomous. The company wants to ensure drivers know that FSD does not replace the need for an actual driver. Tesla instructs drivers to have their hands on the steering wheel at all times of the operation in case the available driver needs to take over. These caveats are due to FSD being in beta-testing mode, which allows real people to use the service with the knowledge that the company is still testing for software issues.
FSD currently has 100,000 subscribers worldwide, with many having satisfying experiences with the service. This comes after Tesla was publically criticized by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, believing that the EV company was misleading its drivers about the autonomous software. Now, the Tesla website includes more details about the FSD service and its safety protocol. Though Tesla is updating its safety transparency, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating the company after several crashes occurred this year while using Tesla’s autopilot function.
