There's Only One Thing Tesla Could Do To Make Me Consider Buying A Model Y SUV

I've been obsessed with electric cars since before I could drive. Growing up, my next-door neighbor was an auto mechanic from Italy named Angelo who spent a couple years building an electric car from scratch. (Angelo also built me an electric toy Mercedes that put other kids' Power Wheels to shame.) Because it was the mid-'90s, seeing it completed and riding around with its whisper-quiet motor felt like something straight out of science fiction.

Since then, I've closely followed the progress of passenger EVs, so Tesla was on my radar pretty early on. A few years ago, I started saving up for one after CEO Elon Musk teased that a $25,000 Tesla was just a few years away. But, just like hyperloops to San Francisco and colonies on Mars, this claim turned out to be way, way too ambitious. Today, a vanilla RWD Model Y SUV is available for about $40,000. I'm simply not going to spend that much when I can get other similar EVs for far less. The 2026 Nissan Leaf, which Car and Driver names the best electric subcompact SUV, starts at $26,000 — just a bit above what I was hoping to pay for my first Tesla.

Sure, I could save money by buying a used Tesla, but at this point other EVs are just as attractive, if not more, than Tesla, which has been plagued by recalls and social stigmas arising from the brand's association with Musk. However, there is one thing Tesla could do to change my mind, and it's directly related to my other obsession — self-driving cars. If Tesla were to fulfill yet another ambitious promise and equip the Model Y SUV with full, unsupervised self-driving, then I'd seriously consider spending money on one.

I live in Los Angeles, and starting last spring, I became a Waymo power user. The ride share service, which uses fully-autonomous cars with no human drivers, is usually cheaper than Uber or Lyft. It's also much more consistently comfortable — ordering a cab can be a real roll of the dice sometimes. Most Waymos are Jaguar I-PACE SUVs, and I love riding in them. Between that and the great job Waymo's done with its interface, it really does feel like the iPhone of taxis.

If you find yourself in L.A., I highly suggest visiting the Petersen Automotive Museum and checking the vehicles out for yourself, as there's an in-depth Waymo exhibit. What really won me over with Waymo though is just how natural it feels riding in one. The initial apprehension I had over nobody being behind the wheel while maneuvering through actual L.A. traffic disappeared in seconds. It feels exactly like riding in a car with a human driver (albeit a bit slower since it never exceeds the speed limit).

As my 5-year-old son recently put it, after I strapped him into the included booster seat that's kept in the trunk, riding in a Waymo is "relaxing." And he's right. Driving a car, especially in L.A., is anything but relaxing, so it's honestly a miracle that riding in a Waymo can be. This made me a true convert, if not an evangelist, for unsupervised full-self driving. And now that I know it works, it drives me absolutely nuts that Tesla doesn't offer it. It would be great to have the experience I get from Waymo, but with my own personal car as opposed to a taxi I need to hail and wait for.

You might argue that Tesla already comes close to giving me what I want. Tesla offers supervised full self-driving. The car can drive itself but requires you to be behind the wheel and attentive to the road at all times, in case it needs you to quickly step in and take control. But, having ridden in the back of countless Waymos — the only occupant in the vehicle — I can tell you that these are completely different experiences.

Supervised FSD is actually the worst of both worlds — it lacks the freedom of full autonomy so you can't, say, get some work done or take a quick nap (which I've done in Waymos before). I also think that your response time in critical situations would be faster if you already had control as opposed to having to suddenly take over, which is why I'd rather just drive myself the old-fashioned way than use supervised FSD. For the record, I think semi-autonomous features like lane-keeping assist, automatic parking, or traffic jam assist are fantastic, but that's because you're still behind the wheel and doing most of the work.

As amazing as unsupervised FSD is, I understand why it hasn't taken the world by storm. It's still a very limited technology — it currently only operates in certain cities because it has those cities extensively mapped. These cities also don't typically have bad weather, like snow or fog, which self-driving cars still struggle to maneuver in. But I wouldn't plan to use the feature all the time, just as Tesla drivers don't constantly activate supervised FSD. I just want the option, so that if the conditions are right for self-driving, I can relax and truly let the car take care of everything for me.

So why is unsupervised FSD a dealbreaker for me with Tesla but not other automakers? Mainly because I think Tesla might be the only company currently capable of pulling it off. Unlike Ford or GMC, it's a tech company building its cars from scratch, not a century-old automaker incorporating new technology. Plus, Tesla is one of the richest companies in the world — so it has the capital to make unsupervised FSD work.

Waymo is owned by Alphabet (Google's parent company) and has a Fleet Response team of humans who can monitor and remote pilot the car when needed. This is a necessary feature for any unsupervised FSD, considering the technology is still relatively in its infancy. Tesla has the money and knowhow to do the same. Its in-depth subscription services also blend well with the two-way infrastructure needed for true autonomous driving. If I can only use unsupervised self-driving in L.A., Tesla can easily geofence the feature so I'm required to drive myself when I'm in Orange County. While I don't want interior cameras monitoring me like a Waymo taxi, I would be fine with them momentarily taking the wheel in tricky driving situations.

With unsupervised FSD, Tesla would also have the size and scope to implement Elon Musk's proposed idea for an "AirBNB for cars." This system would allow drivers to rent out their autonomous Teslas to others as part of a ride share network. Rather than having your parked car sit on a curb while you're working or sleeping, it can earn you money as an autonomous taxi — which would also reduce cars on the road. I love this idea and, unlike a city on Mars, this is something that could be implemented relatively quickly.

This idea of privately-owned passenger cars joining a ride share fleet isn't dissimilar to homeowners with solar panels getting money back from the electric company for putting surplus energy back into the grid. I don't expect this would allow my Tesla to "pay for itself," but it would certainly help, which makes it easier to swallow the likely added cost of my dream Model Y.

Because that's the thing, isn't it? I'm not asking for some tiny, superficial feature. If I'm going to buy a Model Y SUV over a cheaper EV from another automaker, I'm going to need major changes to both the hardware and software of the car. Unsupervised FSD won't come cheap, at least not at first, and I imagine it'll be a fairly expensive subscription. It'll probably also significantly jack up the sticker price, which isn't as low as Tesla owners would like to begin with.

For true full self-driving, the Model Y would likely need all the flashy, twirly exterior sensors and cameras that make Waymos stick out like a sore thumb. Much of the cost of these would no doubt be passed on to the consumer. They'd also look silly but, to me, the advantages of a Model Y with unsupervised autonomy would far outweigh feeling self-conscious about my ride — can Cybertruck owners say the same? So, yeah, I'm asking a lot of Tesla. Like, a lot a lot. But, given all the other electric SUV options available, such a radical change is really the only thing Tesla could do to make me consider buying a Model Y. Elon Musk says unsupervised FSD is coming soon, but I'll believe it (and pay for it) when I see it.