On May 18 (local time), Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on his Twitter that the cost of a fully automatic driving option would increase by $1,000 from July 1.
Tesla now has an adaptive cruise control system and an auto cruise function built in. In addition, a full self-driving (FSD) system function to cope with fully automatic operation can be added as an option. Of course, this function cannot be fully autonomous at the present stage, but it is being updated in stages and aims to be fully autonomous in the future.
Initially, the cost of introducing the FSD system was $5,000, but this is the third increase, with an additional $1,000 increase in May 2019 and July of the same year. Tesla hasn’t announced the total amount, but as the total amount at the time of the second hike was $7,000, this increase is likely to be $8,000.
Elon Musk previously said that the price increase for the FSD system would be around $3,000, so this is a planned increase. However, regarding this price increase, Twitter said that the price will continue to rise as it gets closer to fully autonomous driving, so there is a possibility of further increase in the future.
In April, Tesla announced that FSD subscription service will start in the second half of 2020. If the cost of adoption seems too expensive, the number of Tesla users willing to subscribe to it may increase.