A long time ago, Tesla told people their cars would drive themselves one day. This promise made many people excited. Some even paid a lot of money—up to $15,000—to get that special “Full Self-Driving” feature, also called FSD. But now, many of those people feel tricked.
The Promise
In 2016, Tesla said: “All our new cars will one day drive themselves with a software update.” That meant no one would need to drive. You could sit back, relax, and let the car do the work.
To make this happen, Tesla put special parts in the cars. These parts are like the brain and eyes of the car. They called this setup “HW2.5” and later upgraded it to “HW3.”
Elon Musk, the Tesla boss, said if people ever needed a better computer in the car, Tesla would give it to them for free. People trusted that.
The Upgrade Game
In 2019, Tesla started using “HW3,” a better computer. Then in 2023, Tesla made an even newer one called “HW4.” That one was much faster and had better cameras.
Tesla said HW3 cars could still be updated and would become fully self-driving. But by 2024, it was clear that HW3 wasn’t strong enough. The car couldn’t handle the complex job of driving all by itself.
In January 2025, Elon Musk finally said, “Yes, we’ll need to upgrade the computers in those cars. It’s going to be hard, but we’ll do it.”
But now it’s June, and still—no plan. Nothing has happened.
Why People Are Upset
Some people have owned these cars for almost 10 years. They paid for self-driving, but their cars still need a human driver. Tesla said HW3 cars would be self-driving, but that’s not true anymore. The newer HW4 computer doesn’t even fit in the older cars.
It’s like buying a phone because the company said it would soon fly—and then years later, being told, “Sorry, it won’t fly after all. Buy our new one instead.”
Some owners think Tesla is doing this on purpose. Instead of fixing old cars, they believe Tesla wants people to buy new ones. Many say they won’t buy another Tesla ever again.
What Might Happen Next
Some people have taken Tesla to court. They say Tesla lied. These lawsuits could cost Tesla a lot of money, maybe even billions. But court cases take years. Until then, people are just stuck with cars that can’t do what was promised.
Also, Tesla now seems more focused on building robot taxis instead of fixing old promises. These robot taxis won’t even use customer cars—they’ll be new cars owned by Tesla.
The Big Lesson
When a company makes a big promise, it needs to keep it. Tesla said, “Your car will drive itself.” People believed it. They paid extra. But after many years, the cars still can’t do it—and Tesla hasn’t offered a fix.
If you make a promise, you should keep it. Especially when people trust you with their money.
And if a company doesn’t fix its mistakes, people might stop trusting it at all.
