The price of Tesla’s Full Self Driving package will rise by $US1,000 come July 1, CEO and co-founder Elon Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday morning (Australian time).
The package, also known as FSD, currently costs $US7,000 in the US and $A8,500 in Australia. Musk has said previously that the price of FSD would rise as it becomes more feature complete.
In March, Tesla began the rollout of its next round of FSD capabilites; namely, the ability to detect and recognise stop signs and traffic lights.
Musk said at the company’s first quarter earnings call in April that Tesla vehicles with the appropriate hardware are in fact capable of more (e.g. navigating through intersections and roundabouts), but that Tesla was holding back on while it continued collecting data from the rollout of the stop sign/feature feature.
The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2020
Musk did not say if the price hike he referred to was only in US dollars. The Driven has sought clarification from Tesla Australia on what this will mean for Australian pricing and we will update this article when more information comes to hand.
The tech entrepreneur has been clear that the price of FSD would rise over time and that he believes it will be an appreciating asset for any Tesla car owner as it becomes more feature complete. Now, Musk has reiterated this sentiment saying he believes the value of FSD could be worth more than the car itself.
Musk followed up his tweet on Tuesday morning saying,”The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval. It that point, the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000.”
But the added price of FSD on top of the cost of a Tesla electric car may still prove too much for some, as the price of making batteries means that electric cars are currently priced higher than internal combustion engine equivalents.
Musk also said in April that Tesla would offer Full Self Driving as a subscription service by the end of 2020, although there was no mention of price.
But Musk still believes it is better to buy the package as a whole. At the first quarter earnings call Musk said, “It would still make sense to buy FSD – it’s an investment, we are confident an investment that will pay off to consumer.”
“My opinion something people will not regret doing,” Musk said.
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Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.