[b7we5b7a]

> Put another way, if you look at all the features that I want in a car (robust safety cell, powerful propulsion, quiet, smooth ride, rare) none of them can be upgraded without physical modifications. And in fact, once those things are achieved, there is really very little reason to change anything.

disclaimer: I own a 2019 M3.

IIRC Tesla's acceleration boost (powerful propulsion) upgrade essentially keeps the front engine correctly-aligned at all times to make the most out of the usually-unused torque. AEB and TACC were upgraded multiple times over the years, becoming better and better and solving issues (smooth ride). As for quietness, MS and MX got active noise reduction through software upgrades. All of this was done using existing hardware, and I didn't even mention the constant data-driven tweaking of battery pre-conditioning to allow faster charges while still extending battery life (powerful propulsion/smooth ride), or the camera features (dashcam recording, blind-spot camera pop-up, ...). Some are amazing tweaks you didn't even know you wanted, but are a constant time-saver (blinkers auto-off). I'm pretty sure that also the other high-voltage components handling also got the data-driven treatment (better regulation of currents to extend component's lifetime, for instance).

These kind of software modifications were also seldom done when I brought my old ICE cars to the dealer for the regular checks - "remapping the engine parameters to better handle some cases" - but in reality I recall this happening at most once in the lifetime of the car.

I believe that new features can be developed using existing hardware in new, unforeseen ways. What I agree on is that this needs to be done in a secure and non-intrusive manner. Some UI reworks were definitely controversial at first, but Tesla has a good track record of listening and adapting to user requests at least. I cannot say the same for any other brand I've had a car from.