BREAKING NEWS: Tesla Providing “Full Self Driving” Switch To New Automobile In third Quarter — One-Time “Amnesty” Provide

The primary huge nugget of stories from at this time’s quarterly Tesla convention name is that Tesla will lastly permit Tesla homeowners who’ve a automotive with Full Self Driving (FSD) to switch that to a brand new Tesla buy — however this can be a one-time provide, so act shortly! Let me clarify. …

Traditionally, when you purchase a Tesla and purchase the Full Self Driving (FSD) software program suite, that FSD buy sticks with the automotive, not the proprietor. So, when you promote the automotive, the brand new proprietor will get FSD with the automotive. Nevertheless, when you then go and purchase one other Tesla, it’s important to pay for FSD anew.

This has little question dampened gross sales, particularly since FSD has gone up in value an important deal up to now few years. I purchased our Tesla Mannequin 3 in August 2019, and I purchased the FSD bundle for $6,000. It now prices $15,000 to get FSD. Shopping for a brand new automotive with the identical software program would thus value me an additional $9,000 simply to maintain that FSD software program.

Folks have been wanting superior Autopilot and FSD packages to stay with the proprietor for years — like, nearly a decade. For individuals who suppose this needs to be a everlasting coverage, sadly, it gained’t. Nevertheless, for some purpose or one other, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has determined to permit homeowners with FSD to commerce of their Tesla and get one other one with FSD at no extra value for one time solely — within the third quarter (present quarter) of 2023. And, to be clear, so long as you place the order within the third quarter, you’re good. (Although, I’d be cautious about making any adjustments to that order after the third quarter.)

Tesla Full Self Driving in motion. Photograph by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica.

However why? Why is Tesla lastly providing this? And why for simply this one time? Properly, one clue could also be in Musk calling this a sort of one-time “amnesty” provide. The definition of amnesty is: “a normal pardon for offenses, particularly political offenses, towards a authorities, typically granted earlier than any trial or conviction.” Is that the appropriate phrase right here? Properly, maybe what Musk is acknowledging is that he made quite a lot of claims about FSD reaching robotaxi functionality a lot ahead of it has (it nonetheless isn’t robotaxi succesful), and he made these claims for a number of years. After I purchased my Mannequin 3 in mid-2019, it was purported to be “characteristic full” by way of robotaxi functionality by the tip of the 12 months. It wasn’t even near characteristic full by the tip of the 12 months. Many individuals who purchased FSD anticipating eventual robotaxi functionality have already bought or crashed their automobiles. Others, like me, might have thought of or be contemplating buying and selling of their Tesla for a brand new one, however don’t wish to take a $9,000 haircut to get the nonetheless very imperfect FSD suite once more. So, maybe this one-time provide is a sort of apology and concession for years of delay on FSD targets.

One other risk, in all probability one that enhances my earlier concept, is that Tesla is searching for methods to stimulate extra gross sales. The corporate has been making value cuts loads this 12 months, and as we speculated beforehand and confirmed just some minutes in the past, Tesla stock has gone up this 12 months whereas the order backlog has shrunk. Is Tesla going through a requirement problem? Who is aware of, however permitting many early Tesla consumers to commerce of their Teslas and get new ones with out having to pay one other $9,000 ($15,000 minus the $6,000 or so now we have already paid) for a similar FSD software program ought to spur quite a lot of trade-ins and new automotive purchases.

This was actually the shock of the quarterly Tesla convention name, and people are my ideas on it. Did I miss something or misunderstanding something on this matter?

(Aspect observe: Prepare for the entire Tesla homeowners who traded of their automobiles with FSD up to now few months to rise in uproar and never getting included on this new deal.)

I do not like paywalls. You do not like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Right here at CleanTechnica, we carried out a restricted paywall for some time, however it all the time felt fallacious — and it was all the time robust to determine what we must always put behind there. In concept, your most unique and finest content material goes behind a paywall. However then fewer individuals learn it! We simply don’t love paywalls, and so we have determined to ditch ours.

Sadly, the media enterprise remains to be a troublesome, cut-throat enterprise with tiny margins. It is a endless Olympic problem to remain above water and even maybe — gasp — develop. So …