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Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

teslamotors.com

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Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#41

Post by stcredzero »

georgemcbay wrote: post #40
smacktoward wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a terrific salespitch, especially in how it raises the subject of OTA updates while adroitly waltzing you past the obvious worry that a poorly tested OTA update will brick your car.

> a poorly tested OTA update will brick your car This is possibly true (though I'd be surprised if they didn't have serious precautions in place to prevent a total firmware brick, even fairly cheap electronics are difficult to really brick these days, with multistage/multipartition bootloaders and such). However, given the amazingly large amount of costly meatspace work they would cause themselves by sending out an O…

a poorly tested OTA update will brick your car

It should be possible now to have a rollback function built into engine controllers.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#42

Post by ska »

sheetjs wrote: post #31

> the auto dealer franchise laws were originally put in place for a just cause and are now being twisted to an unjust purpose ... and Christie can argue that allowing Tesla creates a slippery slope whereby Ford and GM and other companies end up crushing the franchisees that the law intended to protect. Musk is trying to find a middle ground that just doesn't exist unless you accept governments creating one-off laws t…

Isn't that easily avoided though? Surely you could protect existing franchises or franchise regions without constraining a manufacturers ability to sell without franchise, or in regions where no franchisee exists.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#43

Post by njharman »

mrt0mat0 wrote: post #7

It blows my mind that in a country that preaches a free-market economy, the government is preventing a company from selling a superior product. I'm pretty sure people will still buy the car if they want to, and in time, those car companies will go under anyway, but why slow down progress?

> preaches a free-market economy

Those who preach, rarely practice.

Only some portions of the electorate and politicians preach free-market economy.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#44

Post by seizethecheese »

jusben1369 wrote: post #29

Musk is massively disingenuous and rather insulting to our intelligence. But he's a heck of a salesman and makes a wonderful car. Like many persuasive people he arrives at an answer and backs into rationale but makes it appear the other way around. I'll give you just one example. The law of the land in NJ is that you can't sell in NJ unless through a dealership. That's the current law. Those laws need to change to al…

This comment exemplifies why I come to Hacker News. The ability to be for a cause, yet still call out any bullshit is unfortunately quite rare.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#45

Post by cheald »

xal wrote: post #34
nlh wrote: post #24

His best line: > The rationale given for the regulation change that requires auto companies to sell through dealers is that it ensures 'consumer protection'. If you believe this, Gov. Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you! Unless they are referring to the mafia version of 'protection', this is obviously untrue. Nicely done, Elon. Nicely done.

Could you explain the reference please?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/politics/chris-christie-bridge...

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#46

Post by dbarlett »

xal wrote: post #34
nlh wrote: post #24

His best line: > The rationale given for the regulation change that requires auto companies to sell through dealers is that it ensures 'consumer protection'. If you believe this, Gov. Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you! Unless they are referring to the mafia version of 'protection', this is obviously untrue. Nicely done, Elon. Nicely done.

Could you explain the reference please?

"Bridgegate" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_lane_closure_scandal

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#47

Post by thedufer »

sheetjs wrote: post #31

> the auto dealer franchise laws were originally put in place for a just cause and are now being twisted to an unjust purpose ... and Christie can argue that allowing Tesla creates a slippery slope whereby Ford and GM and other companies end up crushing the franchisees that the law intended to protect. Musk is trying to find a middle ground that just doesn't exist unless you accept governments creating one-off laws t…

Its not clear that that's true. The law says "auto manufacturers can't sell cars" but it originally meant "auto manufacturers can't renege on franchise agreements (or otherwise abuse them)". Surely there's some way to codify the second one without resorting to the first?

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#48

Post by marssaxman »

smacktoward wrote: post #23
skore wrote: post #10

> An even bigger conflict of interest with auto dealers is that they make most of their profit from service, but electric cars require much less service than gasoline cars. There are no oil, spark plug or fuel filter changes, no tune-ups and no smog checks needed for an electric car. Also, all Tesla Model S vehicles are capable of over-the-air updates to upgrade the software, just like your phone or computer, so no v…

It is a terrific salespitch, especially in how it raises the subject of OTA updates while adroitly waltzing you past the obvious worry that a poorly tested OTA update will brick your car.

Yeah. I am completely uninterested in owning a vehicle which is 0wned by the manufacturer.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#49

Post by smackfu »

peeters wrote: post #35
smacktoward wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a terrific salespitch, especially in how it raises the subject of OTA updates while adroitly waltzing you past the obvious worry that a poorly tested OTA update will brick your car.

How does the distribution mechanism in itself affect the quality? It's just a way of getting new software on the car. You can have the exact same standards of quality for an update installed over the air as one installed at a service centre.

The easier it is to update software, the less important that it is bug-free.

Re: Elon Musk: To the People of New Jersey

#50

Post by kevrone »

xal wrote: post #34
nlh wrote: post #24

His best line: > The rationale given for the regulation change that requires auto companies to sell through dealers is that it ensures 'consumer protection'. If you believe this, Gov. Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you! Unless they are referring to the mafia version of 'protection', this is obviously untrue. Nicely done, Elon. Nicely done.

Could you explain the reference please?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=christie+bridge+closure
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