Full Self Driving (FSD) “Pay As You Go” Feature Included In Tesla Source Code

FSD, or Full Self Driving, is a feature available on all new Teslas for $7,000 — if purchased up front. It costs more if is added later. Elon Musk says the price will rise substantially in the future. That’s because as each new ability is added, Tesla cars become more valuable compared to the auto industry pack, and when the system is fully activated, owners will be able to send their cars out as driverless taxis as part of the Tesla Network and generate scads of income from doing so.

[Personally, I would rather drink iodine than loan my brand new Tesla out to the great unwashed for them to use and abuse as they see fit, but lots of people think this is the greatest idea since sliced bread. There’s a good chance I am just stuck in the past and wouldn’t recognize a good idea if it bit me. Now back to your usual programming, already in progress.]

According to Tesla aficionado “green”/@greentheonly, Tesla also now has a plan to allow owners to access FSD on a “pay as you go” basis. How does he know? Tesla has already baked it into the latest source code updates.

there's code for pay as you go subscription plan, has been for quite a while. Waiting for that eventual time when it will make sense I am sure 😉

— green (@greentheonly) April 28, 2020

There’s more we don’t know about this plan than we do know. One could think of it as a variation of the “lease or buy?” conundrum. Some people dislike leasing. They prefer to decide when to trade their car and they believe their precious vehicle will somehow be worth a ton at trade-in time, despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary. Others like the idea of getting a new car every 2 or 3 years. They know leasing costs more than buying but the advantages offset the difference. It’s one of those “you pays your money and you takes your choice” sort of things. It’s why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

There is speculation that people could sign up for FSD when they need it — like before taking that family vacation to the coast — then deactivate it when they get home. No one knows if that is what Elon has in mind, though. All we can say at the moment is that, based on green’s tweet, the pay-as-you-go option is now included in Tesla software. Details on how the program works will have to come from Tesla when the company feels the time is right.