Tesla has reduced the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software subscription to $99 per month from $199 per month, as the electric vehicle maker aims to drive adoption of its advanced driver assistance system. driving ahead of first quarter results.
The price cut comes weeks after Tesla launched a FSD 1 month free trial for every customer in the United States with a compatible Tesla. This trial is still ongoing. Formerly known as FSD Beta, Tesla now refers to the software as “Supervised FSD” to make clear that the software does not turn Teslas into autonomous vehicles and that human drivers must still supervise the driving software not so independent. .
FSD can handle some advanced driving tasks such as changing lanes, navigating around vehicles and objects, following a driver’s navigation route, and more.
The FSD price cut comes the same week Tesla released more changes to its latest V12 version of the software for some users. Tesla says the latest software upgrades improve FSD’s city street driving capability to run entirely on neural networks.
More drivers with FSD doesn’t just mean more money for Tesla. It also means more video data, which the electric vehicle maker can use to train its neural networks and improve the product. Tesla may also consider using this data so it can fulfill CEO Elon Musk’s recent promise to unveil a Tesla Robotaxi in August.
Musk has urged drivers to increase the value of their own cars by purchasing the software, and said in 2022 that Tesla is “it’s basically worth zero» if it fails to develop autonomous driving technology. Indeed, Tesla shares can be valued as a large technology company, but its margins continue to remind us that Tesla is still just a car manufacturer.
However, Greater accessibility to FSD could increase the likelihood of drivers signing up who don’t do their part to oversee the software and may find themselves unable to take over if something goes wrong.
Tesla does not appear to have changed the cost of a one-time purchase of FSD, which still stands at $12,000 in the United States. But this price has also fluctuated in recent years. In 2022, Tesla increased the cost of FSD at $15,000 in North America, before drop it to its current price a year later.
The current price cut, which somewhat democratizes the software, is in stark contradiction to Musk’s statement just four years ago on X, formerly Twitter, that the closer FSD gets to full autonomous driving capability, the more its value increases. Musk said at the time that the software could even reach “probably over $100,000.”
