Show HN: Fly or Tesla – Compare the cost, time, and stress of flights vs. FSD

A developer published a comparison tool on Hacker News that lets users weigh the cost, time, and stress of commercial flights against using Tesla Full Self-Driving for road trips. The tool, accessible at flyortesla.com, calculates total trip expenses, duration, and traveler fatigue across both modes of transport to help users decide which method suits their needs.

The tool appears aimed at travelers evaluating the trade-offs between traditional air travel and autonomous driving for intercity routes. By inputting a source and destination, users can see side-by-side metrics including ticket prices, drive times, vehicle costs, and subjective stress factors — considerations increasingly relevant as Tesla's Full Self-Driving capability expands and ridership costs fluctuate. The project reflects growing interest in how autonomous vehicles might reshape personal travel decisions, particularly for distance-sensitive trips where the door-to-door convenience of driving could compete with flight speed.

No formal funding or business model is evident from the Show HN post, which suggests the creator built the tool as an engineering exercise or to explore the intersection of consumer transport options. The minimal engagement so far — 1 point and 1 comment at time of posting — indicates the project remains early-stage and exploratory rather than a full product launch.

The comparison touches on a real market question: as EV range and autonomous driving improve, and as flight prices remain volatile, will long-distance road trips become genuinely competitive for time-conscious travelers? The tool does not indicate whether it factors in secondary costs like Tesla ownership requirements, insurance, or FSD subscription fees, nor how it models stress variables — elements that could materially shift the calculus for users making actual travel decisions.