I'm a 2018 model year owner who also paid for FSD. The current FSD is not "fine" or "FSD" at all. It requires constant monitoring because one out of every 50-100 decisions will be problematic. Even the highway driving (autopilot), which was great initially, has recently degraded in quality: now it's much harder to get it to consistently stay in one lane or choose the speed I want to go.
Tesla knows the current FSD isn't fine; if it was, they wouldn't be upgrading the hardware to handle bigger models. So there's nothing surprising about expecting Tesla to deliver the same hardware to people who already paid them for the product they're still trying to deliver. If you're satisfied not receiving the full product you paid for, that's fine, of course. Heck, you're free to write Tesla a donation check. But Tesla should deliver the product (or a refund) to those who aren't.
"Even the highway driving (autopilot), which was great initially, has recently degraded in quality"
Are you sure it's not a hardware or calibration issue? Disclaimer: I don't own a Tesla, but I'm just pointing out that it could also be a hardware issue.
They changed the features of the system considerably. It used to let you set the speed and handle manually-initiated lane changes. Then they started having it initiate lane changes on its own; because this was annoying, they added a “minimize lane changes” feature. Then (and I think this coincides with “FSD” being released to customers who opted in) they removed that minimize option and replaced it with an entirely new system with different modes, one of which is called “Hurry”. This combines aggressive lane changing with speed choices, but the speed never seems to be quite what you want it to be (manual control is gone.) This isn’t unique to my car: if you search for complaints on Reddit and Tesla forums you’ll find plenty.
(Not a Tesla owner... so going based on what I recall reading)
Tesla originally had radar sensors in their earlier hardware models. This sensor not included in later hardware models and later software disabled the sensor inputs.
> Starting in 2021, Tesla stopped installing the radar sensor in new vehicles, and the ADAS was updated to drop radar support. In 2022, Tesla announced it also would drop support for the ultrasonic sensors, moving the ADAS to an all-visual system. The most recent sensor and computer implementation is Hardware 4, which began shipping in January 2023.
Tesla knows the current FSD isn't fine; if it was, they wouldn't be upgrading the hardware to handle bigger models. So there's nothing surprising about expecting Tesla to deliver the same hardware to people who already paid them for the product they're still trying to deliver. If you're satisfied not receiving the full product you paid for, that's fine, of course. Heck, you're free to write Tesla a donation check. But Tesla should deliver the product (or a refund) to those who aren't.