The Economics of “Almost”: How Tesla Monetizes the Future Before It Arrives

I have a confession to make: this article was originally supposed to be a post-mortem on the “Musk Timelines.” 

I was going to write about the fatigue of the perpetual wait, the irony of a future that’s always eighteen months away, and the psychological toll of being a “supervised” driver in a car promised to be a robotaxi five years ago.

Then, while I was mid-sentence, the notification came through. It’s Tuesday, April 7, 2026, and FSD v14.3 just hit the wide-rel...