Tesla’s Full Self Driving Subscription Now 50% Cheaper – Here’s Why

Tesla Slashes FSD Subscription Price by Half
Offers One Month Free Subscription
What’s Behind the Aggressive Discount?

Tesla has cut the subscription fee for Full Self Driving (FSD) by half. FSD is Tesla’s highest level of autonomous driving technology. It supports most functions necessary for driving, including automatic parking and lane changes, signal and stop sign recognition, and autonomous driving on highways and in cities.

Tesla has lowered the monthly subscription fee for FSD from $199 (about 273,580 won) to $99 (about 136,105 won). In addition, the company recently showed confidence in the level of FSD by distributing a one-month free trial of FSD to American consumers. However, some continued to point out that this was a trick to cover up the recent FSD accident controversy.

Debate Over FSD Level
Wheel and Tire Damage Reported

Common problems were noted among testers and consumers who used FSD. There have been successive cases of vehicles hitting curbs and damaging wheels and tires when turning right. Due to repeated accidents, suspicions are being raised about the performance of FSD. Tesla has continued to improve its FSD by updating it several times, but controversy has arisen even with the latest version.

The latest version of the FSD was speeding at 43 mph (69 km/h) on a narrow country road in a 35 mph (56 km) speed limit zone. As if that wasn’t enough, they were also caught passing through an intersection without checking whether a vehicle was coming from the opposite direction. There was a slight slowdown, but no process of checking for surrounding vehicles was seen.

There are also improvements in FSD
Aggressive marketing concerns

Of course, improvements were also seen. It showed quick recognition of stop signs, appropriate deceleration and acceleration, and smooth driving. Some testers say that the updated FSD is better than the previous version. As FSD got on track to a certain extent, evaluations continued that there were no significant problems in actual use.

With each FSD update, Tesla implemented an aggressive marketing and promotional policy. Nonetheless, U.S. demand for FSD is steadily declining. The usage rate was 53% in the third quarter of 2019 but has steadily decreased. Currently, only 14% of customers are using FSD.

Americans don’t trust FSD
Liability after the accident is unclear

It was analyzed that the decline in reliability of FSD had the greatest impact on this decrease in usage. Even if an accident occurs after using FSD, liability is unclear. There was no proper compensation for wheel damage after using this FSD, so users requested compensation from Tesla.

Tesla removed the beta mark when it updated FSD in the U.S. last month. This is because the beta mark does not have much meaning, as the subscription fee has already been paid, and the product has reached commercialization. Related improvements are a priority, as there is no certainty about safety and liability for accidents that occur while using FSD. While Tesla is accelerating the commercialization of FSD, consumer concerns regarding liability for accidents and the level of autonomous driving are being raised.