Tesla will only offer subscriptions for full (supervised) self-driving from now on

Tesla is removing the option to pay a one-time fee for its Fully Self-Driving Driver Assistance (Oversight) program, CEO Elon Musk Announce Wednesday. From now on, the only way to access this feature will be through a monthly subscription.

This change represents a major break from how Tesla has sold access to its advanced driver assistance suite over the years. It’s also a decision that could have an impact on Tesla’s bottom line, Musk’s ability to unlock the full value of his trillion-dollar pay package, and the ongoing legal troubles the company faces. This comes as several other global automakers are making progress on their own advanced driver assistance systems in hopes of competing with Tesla.

Tesla has sold access to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software suite — which still doesn’t make the car fully autonomous, and requires human supervision — at various price points over the years. The upfront price peaked at $15,000 in 2022, though the company has recently been charging customers an $8,000 fee.

Tesla has begun offering access to the software for $199 per month Subscribe in 2021This price fell to Only $99 per month in 2024. Musk often encouraged customers to pay the price up front, as he claimed that the cost of FSD would increase significantly as Tesla added to its capabilities.

But on Wednesday, Musk wrote in a post on X that Tesla will stop selling FSD altogether starting February 14. He did not say whether Tesla plans to change the subscription pricing structure.

Musk also didn’t provide an explanation for the change, but there are some possible reasons. Musk and other Tesla executives have spoken publicly about the adoption rate being lower than they had hoped. In October 2025, CFO Vaibhav Taneja He said Only 12% of all Tesla customers have paid for FSD. Switching to a subscription-only model with a lower initial cost could help boost those numbers, especially during a first quarter that’s expected to be tough for Tesla.

Boosting subscriptions will also bring Musk closer to achieving one of his key “product goals.” He is required to receive full pay From his new trillion-dollar pay package. The company has tasked it with, among other things, reaching “10 million active FSD subscriptions” (measured daily over a three-month period) before late 2035.

Moving to a subscription-only model may be a legal hedge.

For a decade, Musk and Tesla promoted the idea that customers were buying cars that had all the hardware needed to become self-driving vehicles, and that all the company needed to do was improve the software. But that wasn’t true: Tesla has had to make a number of improvements inside its cars in the years since, and Musk himself has said that a significant portion of current owners (those with so-called “3-hardware” vehicles) will likely need new hardware in their cars.

FSD was sold under the same promise. Customers who purchase the full software will eventually receive a software update that makes their cars fully autonomous. Tesla has not yet fulfilled this promise.

Tesla is currently facing all kinds of legal problems related to these broken promises. In December, a judge ruled that the company Engages in deceptive marketing About FSD (and its less capable system, Autopilot) The California Department of Motor Vehicles (which brought the case) ordered the suspension of Tesla’s manufacturing and dealer licenses in the state for 30 days.

The DMV halted the order and gave Tesla at least 60 days to comply by changing the names of those products, or shipping software that delivers on the promise.

Tesla also faces a group of Class work Lawsuits over claims it made about future autonomous capabilities of its vehicles. By removing the option to purchase FSD entirely, the company can cap any potential liabilities in those lawsuits should they proceed to trial.

Tesla’s FSD is still considered a The most capable driver assistance programs On the market in the United States, but the company’s success did not prevent competitors from trying to develop their own systems. Rivian recently detailed its own efforts to make this happen Launch of FSD-like driver assistance programstarting with specialty Geographic expansion To the hands-free driving feature. Ford and General Motors have their own hands-free systems. Many of the rival automakers that Tesla competes with in China are developing their own solutions Some even offer driver assistance features as a standard option.