Tesla recently slashed in half the monthly cost of a membership to its (kind of) self-driving software. Tesla’s Full Self Driving (Supervised) subscription used to cost $199 per month, but it is now only $99 per month.
Tesla started charging $199 per month for upgrades in 2021, when its autonomous vehicle technology was still in experimental testing. At the current rate, the $12,000 upfront cost of adding whole Self Driving (Supervised) — whole name, every time — to a Tesla will take ten years before the subscription loses value. This installment plan appears to be a good value in terms of installment plans. In all fairness, the $199 rate—which granted (self-)drivers five years before incurring fines of $12,000—was also fair.
Tesla is doing what it can to make its EVs (and its stock) more attractive following a rough financial quarter to kick off 2024. For the first time since 2020, Tesla EV shipments fell year-over-year and they dipped significantly compared with the previous quarter. In the first months of 2024, Tesla deliveries were down eight percent yearly and down 20 percent over the final quarter of 2023. Analysts expected Tesla to ship 449,080 EVs in Q1 2024, but it delivered just 386,810.
The company offered a free trial of Full Self Driving (Supervised), which does not make the vehicle autonomous, to Tesla drivers at the end of 2023, seemingly in an attempt to boost its bottom line before reporting came due. As of March 2024, Tesla salespeople in North America are required to demonstrate Full Self Driving (Supervised) to anyone buying a vehicle. The prices of all Model Y vehicles also rose by $1,000 on April 1.
Tesla hasn’t shared shipment numbers for the Cybertruck, which started rolling out late last year. The company is preparing to release a “next-generation low-cost” EV in 2025. Probably.
