Tesla has decided to slash its Full Self-Driving monthly subscription price in half to now $99 a month. This comes after Elon Musk said Tesla would keep increasing Full Self-Driving prices as the system gets better. Much has been said about Tesla’s decision to sell a ‘Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) package before it actually solved self-driving. It’s a controversial decision. One thing is clear: Tesla has used it to sell cars and encouraged owners to buy the package early. CEO Elon Musk went as far as claiming that Tesla vehicles are now “appreciating assets” because they are “capable of becoming self-driving,” and Tesla will increase the price of the FSD package This was true for years, but Tesla reversed course last year when it slashed its FSD package price from $15,000 to $12,000. Tesla also offers owners to buy a monthly subscription to FSD. Tesla originally offered it for $199 per month. Today, Tesla slashed this price in half: The price drop came after Tesla started to mandate FSD demo drives for all new deliveries and offered 1 month of free FSD trial to all existing owners in North America. Those also all came as Tesla is deploying FSD v12, a new version of its “supervised Full Self-Driving”, which requires driver attention at all times. The new version is fully-powered by AI and is believed to be a significant advancement compared to previous software versions. Electrek’s Take Tesla is looking to increase FSD take rate at all cost right now. This should certainly help on the subscription side, but only there because it makes no sense to buy the FSD package anymore. At $12,000, it would take 10 years to get into the money compared to a monthly subscription. Of course, Tesla could increase the price back up at any time but still. It doesn’t make much sense right now. Top comment by EVNuT You think that a million people (half of all Tesla owners) will pay $99 per months for FSD while most people consider $99 per month too much to pay for the Internet? I think only those who have long commutes every day (like an hour or longer) would pay $99 for the FSD. That and those who go on a long road trip. I don’t think there will be more than 200,000 concurrent subscribers. That’s $20 million per month or $240 million per year. Personally, I wouldn’t pay $10 per month for it because I tried it on city streets, and I don’t see the point. It drives like a 15-year-old who has only taken a couple 30-minute driving lessons. I don’t have a long commute. I would, however, rent it for $99 per month when I go on a long road-trip. Anyway. You can forget about “appreciating assets”. It also makes Elon’s comment that Tesla would increase the price as FSD gets better a complete lie. FSD v12 is the first update that I see as significantly better and yet, that’s when Tesla decreases the price. On the other hand, it will help Tesla financially. As people come off of the FSD trial, I would assume that a significant number will go for it at $99 – especially those who have only plain Autopilot. Again, it makes no sense that it’s the same price, $99, whether you are coming from just Autopilot or Enhanced Autopilot. It’s obviously much more value coming from plain Autopilot. I wouldn’t be shocked if Tesla can get 1 million people to sign up for this over the next few months. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
This content was originally published here.
