Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has increased the price of the “Full Self Driving” option that enables autopilot features like automatic parking and changing lanes from $8,000 to $10,000. For now, the price will cover the US, where the company recently released the beta version of the software to some customers.
Tesla has been increasing FSD price since 2018
Over the past two years, the company has been tinkering with the full-self driving pricing from $3,000 in 2018 at the purchase time of a vehicle or $4,000 for later purchase. Last year, the company briefly cut the package’s price to $2,000, which irked customers who had paid higher prices. Later, Tesla revamped the pricing structure by making the basic Autopilot features standard and then increased the FSD package price to $5,000 and subsequently increased the price up to $8,000.
Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, announced the price change last week through a tweet following the launch of the FSD beta to some customers. He said that they expect to increase prices in other markets with the beta with a wide release of FSD anticipated before the end of 2020. Musk said that the price increase is a chump change considering the value car owners will get from the tech. He said that once the Tesla cars drive themselves, they will work as robotaxis fleets, which will allow owners to earn cash.
Drivers to monitor FSD
Although FSD is an autopilot feature, Tesla says that drivers will have to monitor it constantly by keeping eyes on the road and keeping hands on the wheel always when it is in the US. The company emotively warned that “it may do the wrong thing at the worse time.” FSD currently can meet the needs of a level 2 self-driving system as per the standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Musk’s pronouncement should be taken cautiously, considering he had touted the feature to be ready by last year and safe by mid this year, but that is yet to happen.