Blog Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Option Now Costs $10K

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving option jumped from $8,000 to $10,000 today, as promised by the company last week.

The price of FSD has steadily climbed even ahead of its availability. The software package price increased $1,000 in July, then Chief Executive Elon Musk announced on Twitter last week that another $2,000 increase would go into effect today.

Tesla began releasing the FSD beta last week and owners are finding the software to be much improved over the previous versions of Autopilot. Musk has called the improvements “profound.”

Tesla says FSD features include:

Navigate on Autopilot: automatic driving from highway on-ramp to off-ramp including interchanges and overtaking slower cars.Auto Lane Change: automatic lane changes while driving on the highway.Autopark: both parallel and perpendicular spaces.Summon: your parked car will come find you anywhere in a parking lot. Really.Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control: assisted stops at traffic controlled intersections.

For those not willing to pay for the $10,000 package, there may be other options. Musk said last week that Tesla will offer a subscription service sometime in 2021, but didn’t offer pricing or additional details.

A subscription service may make sense for many Tesla owners who don’t have a regular need for FSD, but would enjoy access to the feature on longer trips. Ultimately, Musk imagines a fleet of FSD-powered robotoxis, so the ability for owners to turn on the feature to make a few bucks may be a nice option too.

 

[freeAgent]

The price of the car did not go up 25%, one of it's optional components went up 25%. If Porsche increased the cost of their 21" exclusive wheels ($600) option by 25% (so to $750), it would not create any meaningful decrease in the demand for the Taycan Turbo S, or even the wheels themselves (the next wheel option is $4,510 so $600 to $750 increase of the lower option would not make people choose the next option up).

Furthermore FSD is mostly a gamble, definitely worth more as advertised (if you simply let a Model 3 drive 24/7 for the Tesla Network, it would pay for itself and another Model 3 for you to drive - at least according to Elon). As is today, it's not worth the $10K (if Tesla said it's $10K for what you see today, no more updates, it would not sell almost at all). It's a gamble upsell really, Elon is selling it to people who are already shelling out $50K-$130K on a car, so similar to "undercoating", "stick on trim decoration", "stone chip protection", or other up-sells dealerships have been selling for ages.

Given how well this gamble worked out for those who paid for FSD in between 2016 and 2018 with MCU1, I would say you would be more successful selling your bridge to those folks.

FSD is a separate product with its own price. You don't have to buy it in order to get the car. I don't know what you mean when you say how well the gamble worked out for people who bought between 2016 and 2018. Those people paid a lower price than buyers now. They aren't in the market anymore. People who are in the market are those like me who have a car pending delivery or who decided not to order FSD when they bought their car before. To me, FSD is far from worth it at $10k and it wasn't worth $8k either. I would have paid $4k for EAP, but that isn't currently available. I'll wait until it is available or go without. It's no skin off my back because the price is above the value I would derive from it (it's not a matter of being able to afford it or not).

 

[whitex]

I didn't buy a second Tesla. When i bought my Model Y, FSD was a $7k upgrade. I imagined Id spring for FSD in 2021 as an upgrade. When the price went to $8k, the plan didnt change. $10k? Not worth it to me. Maybe I'll get the subscription if its reasonable.

Honestly, it doesn't sound like you were going to buy it at $8K either. If you were certain, you could have borrowed the $7K when buying the car new and even with interest be ahead in 2021 even if price was only at $8K. The fact that you didn't include FSD in your car purchase means you were not 100% certain you will buy it a year later. Perhaps the price hike just saved you a few months of anguish whether or not to spend $8K?

 

[whitex]

maybe, but perception is import.

NJ is running a 5k rebate but msrp must be below 55K. So I did not order FSD planning to buy it later. So to me I would think of it as an increase of 25%. Hearing rumor of an impending price increase, I popped for the 8K early in Oct. I think the 10K would have killed it for me. I can afford it, but there comes a point . . . . .

You are one of those few for whom the price hike served as an incentive to purchase earlier, or to push you "off the fence". Given that the notification of the price hike only gave people a few days notice, that is probably only a side effect.

 

[whitex]

FSD is a separate product with its own price. You don't have to buy it in order to get the car.

Yep, that is why I said "optional".

FSD is a separate product with its own price. You don't have to buy it in order to get the car. I don't know what you mean when you say how well the gamble worked out for people who bought between 2016 and 2018. Those people paid a lower price than buyers now.

FSD in 2016 was $8K pre-delivery and $10K post delivery (it was split between EAP and FSD cost, but to get FSD you had to pay for both). So yes, those people who paid 4 years ago paid less than people who order as of the price hike, but more than a lot of people after 2016. As to how it worked out for them, what is the most advanced, even limited to "safe drivers", Beta FSD available to anyone with MCU1? So, as to how this gamble worked out for them, well let's see:

1. They paid same or more in 2016 than anyone who ordered before October 2020.
2. They were told FSD functionality was going to start trickling in in December 2016. Not a single FSD feature (as defined pre-mrch-2019, which is what people paid for in 2016) has been delivered until 2020 (traffic light/stop sign recognition), despite being shown a video in 2016 which showed FSD more capable than today's FSD Beta with MCU2+AP3+AP3 sensors.
3. Current features of FSD don't work well or at all with MCU1 + upgraded AP3 (but with AP2.0 cameras and sensors for those from 2016)
4. In March 2019 Tesla redefined what FSD means and is pretending the old definition does not exist

So, that is how it worked out for those people so far.

To me, FSD is far from worth it at $10k and it wasn't worth $8k either.

That is all I was saying all along, people who think that FSD today is worth $8K and people who think it's worth $10K overlap almost entirely. There is a very small number of people who think it is worth $8K but not worth $10K.

 

[freeAgent]

There is a very small number of people who think it is worth $8K but not worth $10K.

That's a different story from your original:

Actually, not true. Anyone willing to pay $8K will likely pay $10K. The extra $2K is not going to turn off people, but will provide Tesla more revenue and higher profit margins per car. If you believe Elon's hype that the car will drive your kids to school, pick up you friends, summon across the country, and pay for itself by driving for the Tesla Network when you're not using it, $8K or $10K makes no difference (an extra couple of weeks of driving part time for Tesla Network will cover the extra $2K). Of course if Elon himself believed it, he would have made FSD available in exchange for services of your car - for each day your car drives for the Tesla Network, you get get 1 month of FSD for free.

The other reason is to hype up FSD perceived value - the more something costs the more value some people attribute to it. I say some people, because I'm betting Tesla trade-in department is not upping their trade-in values by $2K for any car with FSD.

None of us know what the net impact will be to revenue, but we should be fairly confident that the number of actual buyers will go down when the price increases. Whether that leads to increased or decreased revenue and profit for Tesla depends on the demand elasticity. I don't know if Tesla break out sales of FSD in their quarterly reports, but that's about the only indication someone outside Tesla's finance department will get of how the price increase is turning out for them.

 

[BJCard]

Honestly, it doesn't sound like you were going to buy it at $8K either. If you were certain, you could have borrowed the $7K when buying the car new and even with interest be ahead in 2021 even if price was only at $8K. The fact that you didn't include FSD in your car purchase means you were not 100% certain you will buy it a year later. Perhaps the price hike just saved you a few months of anguish whether or not to spend $8K?

Its true, I was on the fence at $7k. It did not look to be worth that much back then. I paid cash for the car in June and was planning on adding fsd in 2021. This was due to cash availability at the time. I didn't realize the price would have gone up so much, and im turned off by it. Perhaps the subscription will be for me.

 

[spokey]

You are one of those few for whom the price hike served as an incentive to purchase earlier, or to push you "off the fence". Given that the notification of the price hike only gave people a few days notice, that is probably only a side effect.

maybe a nit, but I bought it before it was announced, but was speculated about. And given that it went up I think twice between considering purchasing the MY and actually getting it, I bought on the speculation.

Not really on the fence although you might decide I was. I considered how the gov has been whining about finances for months and given that they have deferred the low income homestead rebate that they might not come through. I had decided I would not buy it if I didn't get the 5K. So when speculation started about an increase, my application was accepted as good (still no check I'll admit), and others started actually getting checks, I did the upgrade. In my head, rightly or wrongly, I had convinced myself that the rebate made it a $3,000 upgrade. The rationale had been fixed in my brain when I ordered the car.

 

[whitex]

maybe a nit, but I bought it before it was announced, but was speculated about. And given that it went up I think twice between considering purchasing the MY and actually getting it, I bought on the speculation.

Not really on the fence although you might decide I was. I considered how the gov has been whining about finances for months and given that they have deferred the low income homestead rebate that they might not come through. I had decided I would not buy it if I didn't get the 5K. So when speculation started about an increase, my application was accepted as good (still no check I'll admit), and others started actually getting checks, I did the upgrade. In my head, rightly or wrongly, I had convinced myself that the rebate made it a $3,000 upgrade. The rationale had been fixed in my brain when I ordered the car.

Sounds like a splurge purchase which you couldn't justify on its own value merits, so instead you offset the cost by the amount of "bonus" money, to rationalize the purchase. Hey, I've been there myself! Nothing wrong with indulging yourself once in a while with some toys. YOLO.

PS> One trick when rationalizing, assign some value to the pleasure you will have from buying and using something. Helps offset prices too