Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said on Friday that Tesla will increase the subscription prices for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software as it gets better, and it could cost more than the current rate of $99 per month.
The Tesla chief executive made the announcement in an X (formerly Twitter) post. “I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD's capabilities improve,” Elon Musk wrote.
The billionaire's remarks come as electric-vehicle maker Tesla phases out its Autopilot feature in the United States and Canada — a basic driver-assistance system that previously included lane-keeping and semi-automated steering.
The Autopilot previously came as a standard with Tesla cars. However, as of Friday, Tesla now only offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control as standard, according to the company's website.
Why is Musk planning to hike the FSD subscription fee for Tesla cars?
As Tesla removes the Autopilot feature from new vehicle orders, it leaves customers with FSD as the primary driver assistance option.
This move is a part of Tesla's broader push to drive subscriptions for FSD, which Musk has described as a critical part of the company's future, according to Business Insider.
The X post also claimed that Tesla will scrap the one-time $8,000 fee for the feature after 14 February, 2026, leaving the monthly subscription as the only option for customers seeking self-driving capabilities.
According to Business Insider, adoption of the FSD technology has been sluggish, with Tesla's CFO telling investors in October last year that only around 12% of Tesla owners are paying for the assisted-driving feature.
Boosting FSD subscriptions is also a key component of Musk's massive Tesla pay package. Reaching 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions is one of the major milestones the Tesla CEO must achieve to unlock the full $1 trillion payout, the report said.
What is FSD and how is it different from Autopilot mode?
Full Self-Driving has the ability to drive a Tesla in most situations by making lane changes, following navigation routes, handling turns, avoiding vehicles and objects, and even parking itself or coming to the driver in a parking lot, but it still requires active driver supervision, according to a Tesla blog post.
In a major upgrade, the company said on Thursday that it had begun offering fully autonomous robotaxi rides without a safety monitor in Austin, with Musk saying that he expects “unsupervised” FSD will massively boost demand for Tesla's vehicles, Business Insider reported.
Musk also mentioned in his latest X post that the massive jump in the subscription's value will come when users can be on their phones or even sleep throughout a ride, signalling Tesla’s plans to eventually roll out such a feature.
Meanwhile, the Autopilot software included traffic-aware cruise control, which maintained a set speed and could automatically slow down in response to traffic, along with features like Autosteer that kept the car within lane markings. However, unlike FSD, Autopilot is not designed for advanced functions such as highway navigation, city driving, parking, or summon.