Tesla just announced it is killing the option to buy Full Self-Driving upfront

Tesla is removing the option to purchase its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package as a one-time option and will only be offering it as a monthly subscription.

Tesla introduced the Beta program of its FSD back in 2020, before rolling it out as an option to all customers. 

Those who fancied equipping their EV with FSD had the choice of paying a one-off fee or signing up for a monthly or yearly subscription.

However, now Tesla boss Elon Musk has said it will only be available with an ongoing subscription, and the change is coming in sooner than you might think.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving is moving to a subscription only model

Since its introduction, Tesla owners have been offered the chance to buy FSD at various price points – from its $5,000 introductory rate up to $15,000 in late 2022. 

Musk had warned that the price of buying FSD outright would continue to rise as the software improved. 

But in 2024, Tesla cut the price from $12,000 to $8,000 – and even began offering it for free for Cybertruck buyers. 

Those who opted to pay for Tesla’s FSD in one go were promised that eventual software updates would enable full autonomy further down the line.  

For now, this isn’t the case, and FSD still requires human supervision when in use, even in its recently launched Robotaxi service.

The service has also been offered with a subscription, which currently costs $99 per month. 

Now, in an interesting move, Musk has announced that after February 14, Tesla will be removing the option to buy FSD. 

Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14.

FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2026

“FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter,” he said in a post on X yesterday (January 14). 

It’s unclear why Tesla has introduced the change, but it could be designed to tempt more people to sign up. 

In October, Tesla chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja said only 12 percent of customers have paid for FSD. 

A subscription model, with a much lower up-front cost, could make FSD more attractive to Tesla drivers.

FSD could be facing some competition from Nvidia

Earlier this month, chip-maker Nvidia announced it was launching Alpamayo – its new AI tech platform for autonomous vehicles, which it says will allow cars to ‘think’. 

CEO Jense Huang said robotaxis would be the ‘first to benefit’ from the platform, before rolling out to personal vehicles.

After the news was announced, Musk took to X to share a warning to the tech giant. 

“Well, that’s just exactly what Tesla is doing,” he wrote. 

“What they will find is that it’s easy to get to 99 percent and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution,” he added.

But he went on to wish the company well and said he ‘honestly’ hopes they succeed.

Huang has stressed that Alpamayo is completely different to FSD, as Nvidia isn’t a carmaker and is simply developing the software that other companies can use.

A short timeline of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving

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