Despite what the name might imply, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) capability is not a fully autonomous system. In the automotive industry, a fully autonomous car is rated Level 5, and no car in existence has gone up that high.
FSD is only a Level 2+ system, combining features like automatic lane change, adaptive cruise control, and self-parking with a few additional active driver assists. Despite this, Tesla has repeatedly raised prices for its FSD software, first doubling it from $5,000 to $10,000 before landing on the current $12,000 fee, but another increase is coming.
That’s a high price for L2 software, especially considering there’s no guarantee you will get the tech if you pay. Tesla currently requires an invitation into its “FSD Beta” for owners to unlock the feature. If your safety score (an internal Tesla statistic) isn’t high enough, you won’t receive an invite. But that all may change soon.
