Tesla Cuts FSD Subscription Price by Half

• Tesla lowers monthly Full Self-Driving subscription from $199 a month to $99 a month, amid a greater marketing effort for the driver-assist system.

• Earlier this year Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a one-month free trial of FSD for all new Tesla buyers.

• The Level 2 system, which requires driver attention at all times, is seeing competition from more advanced Level 3 systems fielded by some automakers in various markets, which do not require drivers to pay attention to the road.

Tesla has unexpectedly cut the monthly subscription price of its so-called Full Self-Driving system from $199 a month to $99 a month, in what has already been a busy year for developments for its driver-assist system.

However, FSD remains a $12,000 option if bought outright, assuming one has the required hardware already installed, which is also available for installation at Tesla service centers.

The price cut arrives just a few weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued a directive to offer all new Tesla buyers an FSD subscription for free for one month, in addition to a system demonstration during delivery—something Tesla had not done in the past.

Tesla has also recently instituted a subtle change in how it refers to FSD, possibly as a result of the arrival of more capable Level 3 systems on the market, or due to regulator comments. The automaker now refers to it as "Supervised FSD" in some text on its website, though far from every single mention, which is language that hints at its SAE level 2 eyes-on requirements.