""This announcement is exciting because it's full of potential," said Bryant Walker Smith, professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and School of Engineering, and one of the leading thinkers in the autonomous vehicle world. "Tesla isn't delivering truly automated driving yet, but it is showing us how it'll get there—and exactly who will eventually get it."
"When Tesla decides that its system is actually ready, then these latent hardware capabilities will enable a pretty amazing Easter Egg!" Smith said.
Smith did add that there's a caveat in the announcement he's surprised about—Musk's suggestion that safety features will be temporarily eliminated. According to the press release, while Tesla is still calibrating its system for self-driving, "Teslas with new hardware will temporarily lack certain features currently available on Teslas with first-generation Autopilot hardware, including some standard safety features such as automatic emergency braking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control."
"It's one step back plus the promise of two steps forward," said Smith. "But I wonder about the timing.""