Tesla will only offer fully self-driving (supervised) subscriptions going forward

Tesla is removing the option to pay a one-time fee for its fully self-driving (supervised) driver assistance software, CEO Elon Musk announced on Wednesday. Going forward, the only way to access the feature will be through a monthly subscription.

The change represents a big departure from how Tesla has marketed access to its advanced driver assistance package over the years. It’s also a decision that could impact Tesla’s bottom line, Musk’s ability to unlock the full value of his $1 trillion pay package and the company’s ever-swirling legal troubles. And it comes as many other global automakers are advancing 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 doesn’t yet make a car fully autonomous and requires human supervision — at various price points over the years. The initial price peaked at $15,000 in 2022, though the company recently charged customers $8,000.

Tesla began offering access to the software via a $199 per month subscription in 2021 and dropped that price to just $99 per month in 2024. However, Musk often encouraged customers to pay the upfront price, as he claimed the price of FSD would increase dramatically as Tesla added to its capabilities.

But on Wednesday, Musk wrote in an X post that Tesla will stop selling FSD directly as of February 14. He did not say whether Tesla plans to change the pricing structure for the subscription.

Musk also didn’t offer an explanation for the change, but there are several possible reasons. Musk and other Tesla executives have spoken publicly about how adoption rates have been lower than they had hoped. In October 2025, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said that only 12% of all Tesla customers had paid for FSD. Moving to a subscription-only model with a lower upfront cost could help boost those numbers, especially in the first quarter, which is expected to be tough for Tesla.

The increase in subscriptions would also bring Musk closer to meeting one of the key « product goals » needed to get his new $1 trillion package paid out in full. The company has tasked him with, among other things, reaching « 10 million active FSD subscriptions » (measured daily over a three-month period) before the end of 2035.

Moving to a subscription-only model can also be a legal hedge.

For a decade, Musk and Tesla have promoted the idea that customers buy cars that have all the necessary hardware to become autonomous vehicles, and that all the company needs to do is improve the software. But that wasn’t true: Tesla has had to make a number of upgrades to its vehicles in the years since, and Musk himself has said that a huge portion of existing owners (those with so-called « Hardware 3 » vehicles) will likely need new hardware in their cars.

FSD was sold under the same promise. Customers who purchased the software outright will eventually receive a software update that will make their cars fully autonomous. Tesla has yet to deliver on that promise.

Tesla is currently facing all sorts of legal issues related to these broken promises. In December, a judge ruled that the company engaged in deceptive marketing around the FSD (and its less capable system, Autopilot) and ordered the California DMV (which brought the suit) to suspend Tesla’s manufacturing and dealer licenses in the state for 30 days.

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

Tesla is also facing a number of class action lawsuits over claims it has made about the future autonomous capabilities of its vehicles. By removing the option to purchase FSD outright, the company can limit any potential liability in these lawsuits should they proceed to trial.

Tesla’s FSD is still considered the most capable driver assistance software on the US market. But the company’s success hasn’t stopped competitors from trying to develop their own systems. Rivian recently described its own efforts to roll out FSD-like driver assistance software, starting with a major geographic expansion to the hands-free driving feature. Ford and General Motors have their own hands-free systems. And many rival automakers that Tesla competes with in China are developing their own solutions, with some even offering their driver assistance features as a standard option.