Most people have no idea how far ahead Tesla is, because the cars look and drive like other cars. But under the hood, Teslas bear little resemblance to other cars. Every component is (or will be) re-thought from first principles. Even if legacy automakers had the will to start from scratch (they don’t), they don’t have the capability. One example: Ford relies on 150 separate vendors just for its software. Codebases don’t integrate and Ford has to get supplier permission for modifications. Just unwinding that mess will take years. I recently bought a new Toyota for my daughter and it was like stepping back in time. Everything from the buying process to the car itself is largely the same as it was fifty years ago. It’s only improved incrementally. Tesla has built a massive technology lead and—equally importantly—has superior economics. Cybercab is the first example of Tesla leveraging that dominance, but it’s still early days.