Winter Rant

"I’m utterly disgusted. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself." – Miyazaki

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Give me an E.V.; spare me the software updates

Wife was asking me the other day, if I would be still willing to buy and drive around in a Tesla, after what Elon has been doing at Twitter.

And my answer was simple: I was not willing to buy a Tesla *before* Twitter 2.0 happened (after having considered it seriously and nearly hitting the buy button).

And my reasons had very little to do with Musk. In fact, Musk was and remains inconsequential.

And before I get to my reasons, let me say something else: I have no problems driving a Tesla today. I do not think that boycotting Tesla helps or hurts what is happening at Twitter. My problems start when I must spend money for that ride.

First: *Tesla has reliability and quality problems.*

A recent spate of back-to-back recalls showed how its cars look cool but may not be reliable. Loss of power steering in bumpy road conditions? Airbag issues? Taillight not working? All these issues drove recalls a few weeks ago. And they seem persistent.

Just today, on December 1st, 2022, Reuters has dropped another story on how Tesla is recalling four hundred thousand vehicles in China over side marker lights. Listen, I have not looked at the recall history of Toyota and Honda, but I am sure they have managed to keep the lights working in their cars.

Tesla is going to fix the issue with an over-the-air software fix. Interestingly, so is the case with the earlier issues with airbags, power steering and taillights. Which brings me to the second issue I have.

Second: *Tesla’s rely on over-the-air software updates a bit too much*

Sure … enabling software-powered experiences improve the overall user experience of owning and using a vehicle. But it comes with an inevitable decline in product reliability because humans have never written reliable code. As a software engineer, who has seen how the sausage gets made, I shudder to think Tesla’s have code in them.

And it is not just the code that bothers me. Many things have code – from washing machines to LED lamps. But none of those machines (or their users) have an expectation of over-the-air software updates. See, the moment you tell a software engineer that they can fix bugs after their code has been deployed … there is a natural tendency to ship more bugs. Speaking as someone who researches, studies and practices software engineering, there is a greater tolerance for buggy code once you know that you can fix them later.

Finally: *Tesla has an E.V. monopoly*

I think that competition in open markets is useful and healthy for an economy. Sadly, as an E.V. maker, Tesla has been running competition-free. Other automakers are catching up: Rivian, AMG, Toyota and even Ford. But they are in the early legs of selling E.V.s and are yet to stand the test of time like Tesla has when it comes to selling, servicing, and recalling electric vehicles. It will be very interesting to see how they perform. And more importantly, how Tesla performs with all that competition. Will it still prove to be the best-selling E.V.? Will others figure out a compelling package that will outflank Tesla in the E.V. wars?

Thing that I will look for when Toyota, AMG and Ford put out their offerings: how often/frequently they issue software updates.

Until then, I am happy without an E.V.

– vijay, enjoying a lazy, rainy morning.

Refs.

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Response to “Give me an E.V.; spare me the software updates”

  1. Gunners Shot Avatar
    Gunners Shot

    Tesla has had the first mover advantage which is going to vanish with competition…let us see then.

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