During yesterday’s Q1 2020 earning’s call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained how the company might turn the upfront cost of the ‘Full Self-Driving’ vehicle trim upgrade into a subscription-like fee.
Musk was light on the details, but he did give some insight into how the company plans to run things in the future. Currently in Canada, it costs $9,200 CAD to add the feature to the car. If you don’t want to bundle it into the overall price of your vehicle when you purchase it, there’s currently no way to finance that high cost.
This is where Musk’s idea comes into play. During the call, he mentioned making Full Self Driving easier for Tesla owners to buy by launching a subscription service by the end of the year. After the earnings call, a Tesla spokesperson clarified that rolling the cost of the upgrade into the price of the car at any time, allows people to pay off the upgrade over time.
While Musk mentions that he wants to see this option release by the end of the year, we know that with Tesla’s track record that it could take longer. It’s also unclear if this will come to every market, including Canada.
This would likely be a massive deal for Tesla owners who don’t have the upgrade since it lowers the cost of entry considerably. You need the Full Self-Driving add-on to use features like ‘Smart Summon’ and the new functionality that automatically stops the car at red lights and stop signs.
Musk also mentioned that his Robo-Taxi service is being delayed until after 2021 for most markets. The Tesla Semi Truck is also delayed to 2021, which is the second delay the massive transport truck has experienced since it was announced. Musk promised the truck would be on the road in 2019 during its initial reveal, so it’s unclear what is holding up the vehicle’s production.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
