Elon Musk has provided an update on the timeline for the next-generation of its “Full Self-Driving Beta” system and the availability of the package as a monthly subscription.
Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta
Tesla is currently testing the “feature complete” version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package in beta with a few thousand customers and employees through its early access program.
It’s not considered autonomous driving yet because the driver is still responsible for the vehicle and needs to be ready to take control at all times, but Tesla’s system performs all the other driving tasks autonomously, including driving through intersections.
Tesla hopes that it can keep improving on the system with customer feedback until it can gather enough data to show that it’s safer than human driving.
Over the last few months, CEO Elon Musk has been talking about Tesla moving to a new generation (v9) of its FSD software that will remove reliance on radar readings and instead have everything done through computer vision based on cameras.
The update has been pushed a few times, but now Musk commented on Twitter that it should be no later than June:
“Button timing of May is aspirational. Depends on how well limited beta of V9.0 goes, but I would be surprised if wide beta (aka button) is later than June.”
The new software is linked to a wider release of the FSD Beta to the Tesla fleet through a “download Full Self-Driving Beta button,” which is the button Musk is referring to.
Tesla FSD Subscription
Last year, we reported on indications that Tesla is working on a pay-as-you-go subscription for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package.
Later, CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla planned to release such an option “toward the end of 2020.”
That never happened, and the release was later pushed by the CEO to “early 2021.”
Last month, Musk said that it will “for sure” happen during the second quarter of 2021.
Along with the update about Tesla v9, Musk now says that the subscription is a “sure thing” for May:
“FSD subscription next month is a sure thing.”
The FSD Subscription is going to be an alternative to paying $10,000 for the FSD package, which is currently the only option.
Tesla has made it clear that outright buying the package is going to better financially, which means that the monthly cost of the subscription is likely going to be over $100 per month.
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