First Tesla had to figure out how to profitably manufacture a mass-market car. Now, as might be expected, Tesla's still working out how to profitably price a mass-market car. For the fourth time in six weeks the EV trendsetter has announced a change in the price of its self-driving features. This time, the carmaker effectively announced open-ended price increases. CEO Elon Musk tweeted Saturday, April 13, "Please note that the price of the Tesla Full Self-Driving option will increase substantially over time." The first price bump comes May 1.
Full Self-Driving (FSD) is Tesla's autonomy step beyond Autopilot. Autopilot is auto steer and traffic-aware cruise control; the system once included auto lane change, auto park, summon, and navigate on autopilot, but those four functions were moved to FSD. Because they're both software features that can be added after purchase, Autopilot had cost either $3,000 or $4,000 depending on when it was ordered. FSD, which requires Autopilot, costs $5,000 more.
On March 2, Tesla announced a 50-percent drop in price for Model 3, S, and X owners who wanted to add Autopilot after taking delivery of their cars. The option would cost $2,000, but only for those who bought cars on or before February 28, the day before Tesla announced a reduced price on the Model 3.
Then, on March 12, Musk tweeted, "In retrospect, the lower price shouldn't have been offered. Was done so because some simply couldn't afford it. Prices revert to normal on Monday." To help Tesla owners and buyers figure out which option cost what, and when, Clean Technica linked to a flow chart from @TroyTeslike's Twitter feed that looked like a set of SpaceX "If/Then" mission instructions.
On April 11, Tesla made Autopilot standard for some models and trims, just before it rejigged the price and ordering options for the Model 3. Including Autopilot raised the car prices, but it was still about $500 less than ordering Autopilot separately. People ordering those Teslas with Autopilot included only need to pay $5,000 for FSD, should they want it.
If you're still with us, it now appears Musk is trying to get ahead of future rollouts of increasingly robust autonomous driving capability. Tesla has developed a chip called Hardware 3 that can out-work the Nvidia chips Tesla uses now, and that will be able to handle the processing needs for eventual full autonomy. Said to be in the FSD pipeline for sometime this year are traffic light and stop sign recognition, and autonomous driving in urban environments. The carmaker will show off its latest tech on April 22, a so-called Autonomy Day for investors.
About a week later, FSD will cost more than the current $5,000. When someone sent a tweet asking "something like +$3,000?" regarding the price increase, Musk responded, "Something like that." And that means a hypothetical $8,000 option that will get "substantially" more expensive over time. We get the feeling we haven't heard the last of this, even before the May 1 adjustment.
Full Self-Driving (FSD) is Tesla's autonomy step beyond Autopilot. Autopilot is auto steer and traffic-aware cruise control; the system once included auto lane change, auto park, summon, and navigate on autopilot, but those four functions were moved to FSD. Because they're both software features that can be added after purchase, Autopilot had cost either $3,000 or $4,000 depending on when it was ordered. FSD, which requires Autopilot, costs $5,000 more.
On March 2, Tesla announced a 50-percent drop in price for Model 3, S, and X owners who wanted to add Autopilot after taking delivery of their cars. The option would cost $2,000, but only for those who bought cars on or before February 28, the day before Tesla announced a reduced price on the Model 3.
Then, on March 12, Musk tweeted, "In retrospect, the lower price shouldn't have been offered. Was done so because some simply couldn't afford it. Prices revert to normal on Monday." To help Tesla owners and buyers figure out which option cost what, and when, Clean Technica linked to a flow chart from @TroyTeslike's Twitter feed that looked like a set of SpaceX "If/Then" mission instructions.
On April 11, Tesla made Autopilot standard for some models and trims, just before it rejigged the price and ordering options for the Model 3. Including Autopilot raised the car prices, but it was still about $500 less than ordering Autopilot separately. People ordering those Teslas with Autopilot included only need to pay $5,000 for FSD, should they want it.
If you're still with us, it now appears Musk is trying to get ahead of future rollouts of increasingly robust autonomous driving capability. Tesla has developed a chip called Hardware 3 that can out-work the Nvidia chips Tesla uses now, and that will be able to handle the processing needs for eventual full autonomy. Said to be in the FSD pipeline for sometime this year are traffic light and stop sign recognition, and autonomous driving in urban environments. The carmaker will show off its latest tech on April 22, a so-called Autonomy Day for investors.
About a week later, FSD will cost more than the current $5,000. When someone sent a tweet asking "something like +$3,000?" regarding the price increase, Musk responded, "Something like that." And that means a hypothetical $8,000 option that will get "substantially" more expensive over time. We get the feeling we haven't heard the last of this, even before the May 1 adjustment.
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