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Tesla Bans Customers From Using Autonomous Cars To Earn Money Ride-Sharing (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the way-ahead-of-you dept.

Late Wednesday, Tesla announced the Model X and Model S electric vehicles, boasting that they will come with the necessary hardware to drive completely autonomously at some point in the future. Naturally, one of the frequent questions that followed the event was: "Can I use my Tesla car as a Uber driver?" Well, Tesla was anticipating this question and even buried the answer on its website. From an ArsTechnica report: On Tesla's website, the section that describes the new "Full Self-Driving Capability" (A $3,000 option at the time of purchase, $4,000 after the fact) states "Please note also that using a self-driving Tesla for car sharing and ride hailing for friends and family is fine, but doing so for revenue purposes will only be permissible on the Tesla Network, details of which will be released next year."

4 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry - whose car is this? by mccalli · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If it's good enough to drive at all, it's good enough to be put to use for the purpose I bought it. That purpose might well be a revenue-earning ride sharing thing. Sounds like they're looking for a rent cut from your own purchased car.

    1. Re:Sorry - whose car is this? by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not working so well for John Deer owners... http://modernfarmer.com/2016/0...

    2. Re:Sorry - whose car is this? by Jason1729 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you don't own a license to do whatever you want to do with the car for the lifetime of the car, you'd have to be a complete idiot to buy said car.

      Up until 5 minutes ago, I was a Tesla fan. Now I'm saying anyone who buys a Tesla is a complete idiot. What a great move this is for them.

  2. Re:Great way to kill the competition by making it. by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... if the clause was presented in such as way as to be considered part of a binding contract agreed to when I purchased the car, ...

    Apparently you are not "purchasing" the car but licensing it. And this is happening more and more, like the sealed boxes in tractors preventing third party repairs. And it is a deal breaker for me.