software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed.
I see, so you'd classify Tesla's FSD as software that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, because it is only a concept or is still being written or designed. Got it.
Very much still being written and designed. The fact that people are paying for a beta product is problematic to me, but that goes back to the snake-oil argument - a phenomenon well understood over time.
Hence, let's shake hands on: condensed-vapourware.
No, by your definition any software released with bugs in a beta program users can pay to be a part of, while it's being developed, is vaporware. Under that definition you'd need to invent another word for what currently constitutes the actual meaning of vaporware, which is software that has not been released to real users. (Ie, software that for all intents and purposes doesn't exist, ie, its vaporous.)
And that's not even the start of it. Is FSD feature complete but with bugs for just basic everyday use? No. And hasn't been for years. It's been revised and messed around since the start and is nowhere near ready for primetime, and possibly a decade or two away from what was promised near a decade ago.
I understand development processes, but not while you, me, or our families are on-board. If you're cool being the guinnea pig? Cool, be a guinnea pig. It's a free country, but that will not change my opinon about Tesla's.
Let's end this now. You love Tesla's and FSD. Cool, good for you.
I think their technology and engineers are impressive, but their quality as a carmaker, organisation, and their design language are absolutely sh1t ... (and I'm an EV fan, so don't go there).
That's fair. I don't 'love' FSD, I just think ultimately what is going on here is Tesla has chosen a very different, more challenging path. They are more likely to fail than their competitors at this for this reason, but if they succeed, they will have a far cheaper, more general purpose solution for autonomous navigation. They decided to make that bet. If they were going to bolt LiDAR on their cars 10 years ago, I don't think we'd be seeing them behind to the degree they are now.
