The cost of Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (FSD) software has increased to $15,000. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the increased price—a $3,000 increase—would take effect in North America on September 5th in a message on Twitter.
According to Musk, drivers who place an order for a vehicle before September 5th won’t have to pay the new fee. The price increase happens as Tesla start providing drivers with FSD beta 10.69, which Musk deems “a major stride forward.” It is yet unknown whether Tesla intends to increase the $199 monthly cost of its FSD subscription.
Along with other driver-assistance technologies, the FSD software enables users to use Tesla’s Autopilot ADAS to navigate to and from predetermined locations. FSD doesn’t totally automate a vehicle; instead, it necessitates constant driver involvement and attention to the road.
Over time, the cost of Tesla’s FSD beta gradually increased until it reached a launch price of $5,000. However, Tesla increased the cost to $10,000 when it began offering the FSD beta to a small number of customers in October 2020. Tesla started expanding the beta’s user base in September 2021 by adding a new “request” button, and early this year, they raised the price to $12,000.
In 2019, Musk referred to Tesla cars as “appreciating assets,” implying that their worth will rise as the company introduces new driver-assistance capabilities. Later, Musk stated that as the software approaches complete self-driving capacity with regulatory permission, “the value of FSD” may exceed $100,000.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) accused Tesla of making “false or misleading representations” regarding the capability of its vehicles to drive itself earlier this month. The DMV asserts that customers may be misled into believing that the vehicles are capable of operating autonomously by the titles Autopilot and FSD as well as the language Tesla employs to describe them.
Read more about this at theverge,com
