Comment by ben_w

If Tesla's FSD existed in isolation, it would be a fantastic breakthrough that signposted the future.

If.

It doesn't exist in isolation. The competition isn't just from the American firms, but also European and Chinese, and it isn't really possible to overlook Musk himself given both his long history of Musk over-promising and under-delivering, deflecting blame.

Even the current release isn't what Musk was talking hopefully about a decade ago, e.g.:

  Our goal is, and I feel pretty good about this goal, that we'll be able to do a demonstration drive of full autonomy all the way from LA to New York, from home in LA to let's say dropping you off in Times Square in New York, and then having the car go park itself, by the end of next year. Without the need for a single touch, including the charger.

- Oct 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_autono...

Likewise, based on a video I saw recently from someone reproducing Tesla's 2016 "Paint It Black" drive, Tesla's AI is only now around the performance level that they faked in 2016.

Don't get me wrong, that level was impressive… just, the world isn't isolated developments.