Here's Why You Shouldn't Buy Tesla's Hype

According to Niedermeyer, Tesla has undergone a concerning cycle over the past year, which started when its Autopilot feature was made available to its customers in a "public beta test." Since then, many cars have crashed and even resulted in deaths.

Media headlines have shifted from "self-driving cars are here" to Tesla now saying its Autopilot feature is more of an advanced driver-assist system and not an autonomous driving feature that replaces human involvement behind the steering wheel.

Despite months of bad press, Tesla announced this week its Autopilot 2.0 hardware that supposedly marks "the highest levels of autonomy." And to prove this, Tesla showed a brief and edited video of the self-driving car driving around the company's headquarters.

Related Link: This Video Of Tesla's Complete Autonomy Will Blow Your Mind

Niedermeyer suggested this video is "hardly proof that Tesla's system is ready to handle all the complexities that are holding back other companies that have been working on autonomous technology for longer than Tesla."

In fact, a graduate student working on a project could have come up with a self-driving system able to navigate a parking lot.

Meanwhile, independent experts and representatives from firms that compete with Tesla told Niedermeyer that Tesla's system, despite seven new cameras and an update to the 12 ultrasonic sensors, isn't enough to achieve the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's highest rating of level 5 autonomy.

Niedermeyer further suggested that Tesla would have been better off announcing its Autopilot 2.0 as just a step forward toward an eventual fully autonomous system. Instead, the company references its hardware suite as a "full self-driving hardware."

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk also blasted media criticism of its Autopilot for not embracing the technology that has the potential to save lives. However, the author suggested that media criticism has focused on the dangers of assuming Tesla's system is more capable than it really is.

"The simplest explanation is that in the race toward true autonomous-drive capability, Tesla boosts its brand prestige by suggesting that its current cars are already there," Niedermeyer concluded. "But it's also worth noting that over the last quarter the company slashed prices on its cars to meet its full-year delivery expectations. What better way to boost sales than to make every car Tesla has already sold instantly obsolete in the eyes of consumers chomping at the bit for full autonomy?"

At last check, Tesla was up 0.58 percent at $200.26.

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