With the new arrival of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) version 14.3, there is a new consideration to come with it: how to hack FSD. There are some methods to do this, and electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) is actually cracking down on some of these. Warranties are getting voided, service is getting revoked, and some are starting to wonder, just how much do I actually own this car? Investors seem pleased, though, and gave Tesla a fractional boost in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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Trade TSLA with leverageThere are some ways to do this. Reports discuss a 500-euro device that plugs directly into Tesla’s Controller Area Network (CAN) system and can work around regional locks as well as geofencing tools. This allows FSD (Supervised) to work in countries that have not specifically authorized it. The consequences of such workarounds can be substantial. User bans, warranties voided, and in South Korea, jail time is a very real possibility.
But there are concerns that Tesla’s enforcement of these workaround restrictions is, well, spotty. For instance, one influencer—Omar Qazi of the Whole Mars Catalog—has reportedly been seen in videos using FSD, but never touching the steering wheel. Qazi was later found to be using a third-party device known as a “nag defeat” system to shut down driver monitoring alerts. But no action seems to have been taken against Qazi, perhaps owing to the fact that the Wall Street Journal identified Qazi as the account Elon Musk himself most frequently interacts with.
Tax Rebate Withheld
Troubles are also cropping up in Texas, as Tesla is set to get 9% of its tax rebate withheld over “insufficient documentation.” Word from the Travis County Commissioners Court is that the tax rebate for 2020 to 2022 is being partially withheld over a matter of “…partial noncompliance with certain provisions….”
Among those provisions partially complied with was a matter of the “Green Building Program” section. Tesla apparently promised to build its Gigafactory in an “environmentally conscientious manner,” but did not supply sufficient documentation to support that promise. Further, Tesla reportedly did not provide documentation around rules for construction site safety or payments to food service and janitorial workers.
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 13 Buys, 11 Holds, and eight Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 35.99% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $392.63 per share implies 13.29% upside potential.
