Musk claps back at customer criticism of Tesla FSD beta
August 25, 2022
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Tesla will increase the price of its “full self-driving” beta software, the automaker’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), in North America to $15,000 on September 5, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Sunday.
The celebrity executive said the current price of $12,000 will be honored for orders made before September 5, but delivered later. Musk also tweeted Tesla owners can upgrade their existing car to FSD in two minutes. Musk did not say whether there would be a planned price increase for the subscription option for FSD, which falls at $199 per month.
This is not the first time Musk has raised the price of the controversial ADAS, and it probably won’t be the last. In January 2022, Tesla increased the price of the one-time payment from $10,000 to $12,000. Last month, Musk said FSD was “ridiculously cheap” considering the high value of the service, which the executive expects to actually deliver full autonomous capabilities, rather than just some automated driving features, by the end of this year.
There are around 100,000 vehicles equipped with FSD, a number that appears to have remained flat in the first half of the year. Despite its name, FSD does not actually mean cars can drive themselves — they require the human driver to stay alert and take control when needed. It is this distinction which has led the California Department of Motor Vehicles to recently accuse Tesla of falsely advertising its FSD and Autopilot ADAS.
Musk also tweeted Sunday that the price hike would happen after FSD Beta version 10.69.2, which Tesla started rolling out Saturday, was widely released. The newest version boasts upgrades like improved unprotected left turns, a 17% improvement of velocity error for pedestrians and bicyclists, and a new “deep lane guidance” module for smoother lane switches.
