Tesla just lowered the price of the ‘Full Self Driving’ hardware upgrade

Tesla merely lowered the price of the 'Full Self Driving' hardware upgrade

(Image credit: Tesla)

Tesla has reduced the price of the 'Full Self Driving' upgrade necessary for older Tesla models to use the new FSD subscription service. It'll now cost $ane,000, instead of $1,500.

This is probable in response to criticism from Tesla owners who were asked to pay for the upgrade. Information technology used to be free, after all, and the Full Cocky Driving Autopilot won't work without information technology.

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The main issue people had with Tesla charging for the hardware upgrade was the fact they were originally told all Teslas had the necessary hardware for Full Self Driving to piece of work. What actress you had to pay for the Full Cocky Driving improver was so you had admission to the software that upgraded the Autopilot system.

Then Tesla discovered that the Full Self Driving Estimator 2.0 and 2.5, which was installed in Tesla cars before 2019, wasn't good enough to handle the autonomous features Tesla wanted. And then it started using the FSD Computer 3.0 from 2019, while owners of older cars who bought the FSD add-on got a free upgrade.

Of grade Tesla is operating its FSD subscription a piffling differently, because it's a not-committal $199 a month subscription rather than a $10,000 lifetime purchase. And so it's asking drivers of older cars to pay for the upgrade themselves, despite the fact owners of those cars may take thought they already had the necessary FSD hardware already.

tesla fsd hardware upgrade — (Image credit: Tesla)

But the company appears to take heard that criticism, and the Tesla app is at present showing a reduced price for the FSD hardware upgrade. According to Elektrek there are too reports that people who paid the total $1,500 in the past few days have been getting a $500 refund.

A cost cut is the right idea for this state of affairs, though it'due south understandably not going to please everyone. Subsequently all, Tesla promised that cars bought between 2016 and 2019 would have the necessary hardware to have reward of Full Cocky Driving as and when features became available.

The visitor wasn't able to keep that promise, and information technology's reasonable for people to be annoyed at being asked to pay $1,000 to ready something that was entirely out of their hands. It's understandable that they'd desire the automaker to deliver what was originally promised.

Could this situation happen once more?

I likewise wonder whether this state of affairs may ingather upwardly again in time to come, especially since Tesla seems and so keen on bringing in subscription revenue. Afterward all, Tesla's "Full Self Driving" is not completely democratic, and still requires an attentive driver to be gear up to have over at any time.

In fact, Tesla has reportedly told California regulators that its system offers Level 2 autonomy, as divers by the Society of Automotive Applied science (SAE). "True" autonomy wouldn't be available until Level iv or Level 5, and in that location'south still much development that needs to occur earlier we attain that level.

Tesla may well find itself in a similar situation in the future, where cars will demand better and more powerful figurer hardware before they can bulldoze with more autonomy. It's a clear downside to using terms like "Full Self Driving" when the cars themselves are non completely independent.

We practice not know what the future holds, and what barriers automakers may come up across when trying to brand their vehicles completely autonomous. However Elon Musk has already admitted that autonomous driving is a lot harder than he realized, and information technology's not too unreasonable to question whether current Tesla Autopilot hardware will be up to the chore.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he can usually be constitute knee joint deep in stats the latest and best electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. Information technology'south long mode from his days equally editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the tabular array. He's usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego fix onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't let him purchase the stuff he really needs online.