I am honestly surprised as much time passed as it did before we got to this point. Tesla could have sold preorders for a future product called autopilot and gave away the current feature-set renamed as "smart cruise control" for free with every purchase and completely dodged this bullet. The current product would be no less remarkable for it either.<p>I worry that what may kill Elon's ventures in the end will be the collective weight of many small moments of impatience or hubris compounding over time, which is sad because the broad strokes have been fairly well played so far.