Tesla drops Autopilot and one-time purchase as FSD shifts to $99 monthly subscription model

$99 Tesla Full Self Driving subscription will rise

One-time FSD purchase no longer available as Elon Musk talks up future where drivers can be asleep at the wheel Having confirmed Tesla will start charging $99 a month for supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), CEO Elon Musk has told the faithful that the cost will rise "as FSD's capabilities improve." Musk revealed the plan on his social media mouthpiece, X (formerly Twitter), on January 23, a week after stating that the hands-free driving technology would shift from an $8,000 one-off payment to a subscription-only model in February. Tesla announced the change to a monthly subscription on January 14. It will shift to a subscription model for FSD on February 14, and Musk's post indicates the $99 per month fee will rise before long, though he did not give a date or amount, just saying it would happen as the technology gets better. The electric vehicle maker is not averse to fiddling with price lists; the FSD feature reached a high of $15,000 in September 2022 before being reduced to $8,000 in 2024. The $99-per-month option offers better value, though the idea of a subscription can be controversial. A price increase, however, reduces the value proposition. "The massive value jump," wrote Musk, "is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD)." Musk has promised great things of FSD for years, and Tesla has become the target of several sueballs over the technology. Investigations have also opened regarding the safety of the system, which relies on cameras and AI to keep its vehicles on track rather than features including radar and lidar. Musk did not clarify exactly what increase in FSD capability justifies a subscription payment hike. If Tesla waits until FSD reaches the point where it can be trusted to pilot a vehicle with the driver asleep at the wheel, then it seems unlikely the corporation's value will increase in time to trigger Musk's bonus payout. In addition, modern hands-free systems mean that operating a cellphone is perfectly possible from a moving vehicle. Tesla is not the only automaker to move its customers to a subscription model and remove a one-off payment option, notwithstanding BMW's ill-fated heated seat adventure. Musk is, however, notable for saying the quiet part out loud: price rises could arrive faster than an out-of-control car, careening down the highway. ®

Tesla discontinues Autopilot in US and Canada By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Tesla on Thursday discontinued its basic driver-assistance system, Autopilot, in the United States and Canada. The electric vehicle maker is pushing customers toward its more advanced technology branded as Full Self-Driving (Supervised). This change comes after Tesla's announcement last week that it would stop offering Full Self-Driving as a one-time $8,000 purchase starting February 14. Following that date, customers will only be able to access the software through a monthly subscription priced at $99. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Tesla FSD prices to increase as capabilities improve, Musk says By Investing.com

Investing.com-- Subscription prices for Tesla's "full self driving" (FSD) software will increase as the service's capabilities improve, CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday evening. Musk's comments come as Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) prepares to stop offering its FSD service as a one-time purchase and move entirely into a subscription-based model, currently priced at $99 a month. Tesla buyers can still purchase FSD as a one-time option, for $8,000, until February 14. Get more breaking news on Tesla by upgrading to InvestingPro "The $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD's capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD)," Musk said in a social media post. Tesla has not provided a clear timeline for when it plans to begin offering unsupervised FSD, despite Musk having touted such an offering for years. The service still contains the "supervised" disclaimer on Tesla's website, after the company was hit with a wave of lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over its claims on FSD's capabilities. Musk has constantly touted robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles as the next big growth drivers for Tesla, as the electric vehicle maker grapples with years of cooling sales in its core auto division. Tesla is currently testing its driverless robotaxis in Austin, Texas, having recently started testing the service without a human safety monitor. Musk said in a separate post that production of Tesla's Cybercab, a two-seater fully autonomous vehicle, begins in April. But he had earlier warned that initial production of the vehicle and Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot will be "agonizingly slow."

Tesla to charge subscription fee for some highway driver-assist features in US, Canada

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Tesla on Thursday stopped including some driver-assistance features with new vehicles sold in the U.S. and Canada, requiring customers who want self-steering and similar technology to pay for a broader $99 monthly subscription. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been focusing on boosting revenue from artificial intelligence-driven autonomous vehicle technology in the company's personal vehicles and robotaxis as sales of its aging electric vehicles soften. Though EV sales account for most of Tesla's income, investors are eager to see if the company can make money off AI, and much of Tesla's $1.4 trillion valuation hangs on that bet. New Tesla buyers will get Traffic Aware Cruise Control, a feature that maintains a set speed and follows traffic at a safe distance, included in their purchases, Tesla's online vehicle configuration pages showed on Friday. Autosteer, a feature that keeps vehicles centered in a lane on highways, will no longer come standard. Tesla stopped offering Autopilot, which included Autosteer, and also stopped selling Enhanced Autopilot, which can change lanes. Customers wanting that level of assistance now have to buy Tesla's broader $99-a-month Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription that also steers the vehicle through city streets and requires driver monitoring. Having 10 million FSD subscriptions is a goal in Musk's mega pay package over the next decade. Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said in October that 12% of Tesla customers had paid for the FSD software. Tesla last week said it would stop offering FSD as a one-time $8,000 purchase from February 14. Musk said on Thursday the subscription price for FSD would rise over time as the software's capabilities improve. 'HONESTLY, IT'S DISAPPOINTING' Following Tesla's move, many customers voiced their displeasure on social media. "A lot of people (including myself) subscribe to FSD just for road trips and rely on basic Autopilot for everyday commuting," X user @Marks_Tech posted. "Honestly, it's disappointing." California's Department of Motor Vehicles had placed Tesla on a high-stakes 60-day deadline to overhaul its marketing or face a mandatory 30-day suspension of its retail sales license. The state buys more EVs than any other state. One condition was that Tesla stop using the Autopilot name, which regulators argued misled consumers into believing the system was capable of autonomous driving. The department declined to comment and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reason for the change. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Arun Koyyur, Rod Nickel) By Abhirup Roy and Akash Sriram