Electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla (TSLA) will stop selling its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology after February 14, CEO Elon Musk said in an X post. The tech will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter. He noted that there would be some changes to how customers can access the autonomous driving technology for their EVs. FSD (Supervised) is a supervised partial vehicle automation system.
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Until now, customers could buy FSD for an upfront payment of $8,000 or subscribe for a monthly fee of $99. Musk did not disclose further details on future pricing. Musk has positioned self-driving tech and robotics as Tesla’s key growth engines, especially as the EV maker faces two straight years of declining car sales.
Shift to Monthly Subscription Model for FSD
After its initial success and getting drivers hooked, Tesla has decided to pivot strategically to a monthly subscription model. The current U.S. subscription price to upgrade from Basic Autopilot or Enhanced Autopilot to FSD is $99 per month, with Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) not available in all markets.
FSD is currently available in the U.S., Canada, China, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, and New Zealand, and is expected to be rolled out to other regions in future updates. The features include semi-autonomous navigation, response to traffic lights and stop signs, lane change assistance, and self-parking. Musk’s post does not clarify what happens to people who already bought FSD outright, but existing purchases could probably remain active. The change mainly affects new buyers; subscription users likely will not be able to switch to a one-time purchase later.
Last year, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles with FSD, triggered by over 50 reports of traffic violations and crashes. Tesla now calls it “FSD (Supervised)” for passenger cars. Factories use an unsupervised version to move new cars from assembly to delivery lots.
Is Tesla a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
On TipRanks, Tesla stock has a Hold consensus rating based on 12 Buys, 11 Holds, and seven Sell ratings. The average Tesla price target of $401.93 implies 10.1% downside potential from current levels. Over the past year, TSLA shares have gained 12.8%.
