Sales Model Overhaul
One-Time Purchase Option Discontinued
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced on January 14 (local time) that the company will discontinue the one-time purchase option for its supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which requires driver intervention, and will offer it exclusively through a subscription model.
On this day, CEO Musk posted on the social networking service X (formerly Twitter), stating, "Tesla will only offer FSD for sale through a monthly subscription after February 14."
Until now, Tesla has provided FSD either as a one-time purchase for $8,000 or as a subscription starting at $99 per month. The subscription-based sales model is considered a key strategy by CEO Musk to position Tesla as a leading company in the autonomous driving service market. However, CEO Musk did not specify the exact reason for switching FSD sales exclusively to a subscription model.
To date, Tesla has never disclosed the number of FSD users or monthly subscribers. Currently, Tesla is operating a limited robo-taxi (driverless taxi) service using the fully autonomous version of FSD in Austin, Texas. In San Francisco, the service is being operated with a safety operator seated in the driver's seat.
U.S. business media outlet CNBC pointed out, "Although CEO Musk is striving to make Tesla a leader in the autonomous driving sector, the company still lags far behind Google Waymo." Citing a report from investment firm Tiger Global, CNBC reported that Waymo’s weekly paid ride count exceeded 450,000 last month. Waymo is currently operating robo-taxis in Austin, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, with plans to expand the service to more cities in the future.
On this day, Tesla closed at $439.14 on the New York Stock Exchange, down 1.8% from the previous trading day.
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