Tesla wants you to drop up to $200 a month for its Full Self-Driving feature

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If you’re a Tesla owner and didn’t purchase Full Self-Driving (FSD) when you first bought your car, you’re in luck. Tesla is now offering the chance to get FSD as a monthly subscription.

It was bound to happen, as everything moves to the subscription model. To activate the $199-a-month subscription, you’ll have to shell out $1,500 first, as your Tesla needs a computer upgrade to run the not-quite-able-to-drive-for-you driver’s aid known as FSD.

At that price, it’d take you almost five years to reach the $10,000 price that FSD costs at the time of purchase of a new Tesla, so maybe the subscription model isn’t that bad of a deal.

I mean, we’re still years off Tesla’s vision for Level 5 autonomy from your car, and with the subscription, you can cancel at any time if you find the features lacking or if you prefer to drive your performance car manually.

At launch, the subscription for FSD is only available for US-based owners. If you have Basic Autopilot, it’s $199 a month to upgrade to FSD, or if you opted for Enhanced Autopilot, it’s $99 a month.

The company says you can cancel your subscription at any time from either the Tesla app or your account on the website, and any mid-cycle cancelations will mean you keep FSD until the end of the billing period.

Oh, and despite its messaging on social media, Tesla wants you to know that the “currently available features do not make the vehicle autonomous. The currently enabled features require a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.”

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Editors’ Recommendations:

• Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta ticks up to version 9.0
• Tesla is working on a $25,000 hatchback with new battery tech
• Tesla, Waymo, and more must now report all self-driving accidents to the government
• California’s DMV is investigating Tesla for misrepresenting its self-driving capabilities

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.