The current asking price to experience Tesla's Full Self-Driving is $10,000 and it's an amount that likely is not too enticing for everyone. It turns out, however, that the electric automaker is making ways to make the smart technology more accessible, and that is FSD will be offered as a subscription option.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed on social media that the FSD subscription is dropping as soon as early next year. The move is designed apparently to make the service more widely available. The hefty sum of paying for autonomous driving the Tesla way could be cushioned by the payment plan, which will allow users to pay monthly.
"We will release FSD subscription early next year," Musk declared on Twitter, which is his response to an inquiry about a more flexible mode of payment for the service.
The Verge said FSD subscription is nothing new as Musk previously advertised that the option is coming and will be offered in late 2020. To be sure, that is not happening this December so it's fair to expect that the promise from the Tesla boss will not be realized quite soon.
But FSD at a more reasonable cost is welcome especially for those not yet fully sold on smart driving. For instance, users leasing their Tesla EVs will be able to enjoy the technology without having to pay the full price.
The same goes for early adopters who wish to take self-driving for a spin first before committing their hard-earned money.
It appears too that Tesla is thinking of ways to make FSD ownership more attractive. One possible path to the service is transferring from one user to another. Electrek said Musk floated the idea of making FSD a transferrable or saleable product under certain conditions but this becoming real is not expected anytime soon.
However, FSD as an asset that can be offered for sale by existing owners is aligned with Musk's packaging of the service. In his previous statements, the CEO admitted that the technology is expensive but added that users need to realize that the service is also a form of investment.
Musk stressed buying FSD will eventually pay off and it is an investment that users will not regret over time. How exactly this will play out though was not clarified by the Tesla chief but making it a tradeable item is one viable option indeed.
Tesla is making FSD available as a beta release for select users but Musk already indicated that a wider rollout is happening soon. The target is to implement a broader release of FSD in the United States first and when the service becomes smarter and safer, more areas will follow in 2021.
