6 ms·

Can someone explain what this[0] means? It would seem that when you buy the car, you don't own it after all. [0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-self

Can someone explain what this[0] means? It would seem that when you buy the car, you don't own it after all. [0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-self-driving-car-network-uber-lyft_us_5810cebfe4b001e247df8fe2 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-self-driving-car-n...

gubby 10y ago
At least in the UK, such a term would have to be brought to your attention before the sale, very clearly, for it to be part of the contract. Writing that in the manual would have no effect.
- greglindahl 10y ago
  Interestingly, in the UK paperback books have a little contract in the front saying you can't rebind them into hardbacks, while in the US such a contract is forbidden by the right of first sale. The moral is that these things are less obvious than one would think.
  - TillE 10y ago
    The UK certainly has some weird laws, but that sounds...of dubious validity. Like roughly the equivalent of "not for individual resale"; a contractual matter between the supplier and the merchant, not something that could even theoretically be enforced on any buyer.
    - lmm 10y ago
      UK copyright law is old and unusually strict. E.g. crown copyright can be perpetual.
  - gubby 10y ago
    I doubt strongly that this would have any effect either, for the same reason. My legal knowledge is a little old fashioned and sporadic, but the classic authority on this used to be 'Olley v Marlborough Court Hotel'. Worth a read, if only for the way Denning used to write his judgements.
greglindahl 10y ago
When you buy a lot of computing equipment, there's a clause in the contract saying that you can't use it to control a nuclear power plant. Do you own the computer?
- cortesoft 10y ago
  I think that is because of the law. This clause is more like Microsoft saying you can't use Windows to write software for Apple computers.
  - imtringued 10y ago
    It doesn't change the fact that you still own the hardware on which the software is executed. You own the car and the computer but you don't own the autopilot software or windows that runs on the hardware.
    - cortesoft 10y ago
      That doesn't mean people can't be upset that there are limitations placed on how you can use the software. Imagine if you were told you couldn't use Microsoft Word to write about certain topics, for example.
vkou 10y ago
This is extremely anti-consumer, and I don't understand why you are being down-voted.
- nhf 10y ago
  A point of clarification: you are able to use the car with a human operator in any ridesharing service. Tesla is saying that you can't share out your car on Uber's platform, with it operating at full autonomy, while you chill on your couch.
  - andygates 10y ago
    Just Uber, or any (speculative) fully autonomous rideshare service?
  - phrygian 10y ago
    That makes sense, thank you.
  - vkou 10y ago
    ... Unless you do it via the TESLA NETWORK platform, paying an X% cut of your revenues to TSLA. This is sharecropping, and is extremely anti-consumer.
snuxoll 10y ago
Same issue that many embedded devices have, you own the hardware, not the software to power it.

gubby 10y ago

At least in the UK, such a term would have to be brought to your attention before the sale, very clearly, for it to be part of the contract. Writing that in the manual would have no effect.

greglindahl 10y ago
Interestingly, in the UK paperback books have a little contract in the front saying you can't rebind them into hardbacks, while in the US such a contract is forbidden by the right of first sale. The moral is that these things are less obvious than one would think.
- TillE 10y ago
  The UK certainly has some weird laws, but that sounds...of dubious validity. Like roughly the equivalent of "not for individual resale"; a contractual matter between the supplier and the merchant, not something that could even theoretically be enforced on any buyer.
  - lmm 10y ago
    UK copyright law is old and unusually strict. E.g. crown copyright can be perpetual.
- gubby 10y ago
  I doubt strongly that this would have any effect either, for the same reason. My legal knowledge is a little old fashioned and sporadic, but the classic authority on this used to be 'Olley v Marlborough Court Hotel'. Worth a read, if only for the way Denning used to write his judgements.

greglindahl 10y ago

When you buy a lot of computing equipment, there's a clause in the contract saying that you can't use it to control a nuclear power plant. Do you own the computer?

cortesoft 10y ago
I think that is because of the law. This clause is more like Microsoft saying you can't use Windows to write software for Apple computers.
- imtringued 10y ago
  It doesn't change the fact that you still own the hardware on which the software is executed. You own the car and the computer but you don't own the autopilot software or windows that runs on the hardware.
  - cortesoft 10y ago
    That doesn't mean people can't be upset that there are limitations placed on how you can use the software. Imagine if you were told you couldn't use Microsoft Word to write about certain topics, for example.

vkou 10y ago

This is extremely anti-consumer, and I don't understand why you are being down-voted.

nhf 10y ago
A point of clarification: you are able to use the car with a human operator in any ridesharing service. Tesla is saying that you can't share out your car on Uber's platform, with it operating at full autonomy, while you chill on your couch.
- andygates 10y ago
  Just Uber, or any (speculative) fully autonomous rideshare service?
- phrygian 10y ago
  That makes sense, thank you.
- vkou 10y ago
  ... Unless you do it via the TESLA NETWORK platform, paying an X% cut of your revenues to TSLA. This is sharecropping, and is extremely anti-consumer.

snuxoll 10y ago

Same issue that many embedded devices have, you own the hardware, not the software to power it.