Tesla lowers the price of its 'Full Self-Driving' computer upgrade

·Associate Editor
·1-min read

After criticism from owners, Tesla has reduced the price of a computer update required for its new "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) feature, Electrek has reported. The hardware HW 3.0 update will now cost $1,000 rather than $1,500, a 33 percent drop in price. To get the feature, owners will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of up to $199 on top of that, or $10,000 all in one shot. 

Tesla famously said in 2016 that all its EVs produced going forward would have full self-driving hardware. However, it eventually found that a computer update would be needed on older vehicles and started shipping later models with the new HW 3.0 hardware. However, owners of Tesla models produced between late 2016 and mid-2019 were shocked to get hit with a $1,500 hardware upgrade bill on top of the cost of the FSD upgrade. 

After telling customers they'd be charged $1,500 for the hardware update, Tesla appears to have lowered that to $1,000. As before, you'll need to take your car to an authorized Tesla service center to get the update. 

Much like the "Autopilot," Tesla's FSD system does not offer full self-driving defined as Level 4 or beyond. Rather, it told California regulators that it conforms to SAE Level 2, much like models from Cadillac, Audi and others. Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself said that "there will be unknown issues, so please be paranoid." Consumer Reports, meanwhile, noted that it's "concerned that Tesla is still using its existing owners and their vehicles to beta-test new features on public roads." 
