Elon Musk: Tesla Full Self-Driving Now Costs $15,000

• Tesla is raising the price of its Full-Self Driving software to $15,000.
• This marks the second price hike of the year and a 25% increase from before.
• Elon Musk says that the new price will kick in starting on September 5, with orders placed before then honored at the current price of $12,000.

Tesla is yet again raising the price of its infamous Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance technology. The software is still in what Tesla calls "beta" testing, and only available to a select number of Tesla owners. With a new price of $15,000 on all Tesla vehicles — from the least expensive Model 3 to the six-figure Model X — FSD on vehicles ordered on or after September 5 will increase by $3,000, making the system $5,000 pricier than it was at the start of 2022.

New updates, more money

Along with this price increase comes the release of FSD 10.69.2, the latest iteration of the driver assistance technology. Using his usual Twitter megaphone, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that a "wide release" of this beta software is impending. In a series of tweet replies, Musk also praised Tesla engineers for their work on the project and cited multiple software improvements.

New orders will be honored at the current price of $12,000 until September 5, and current owners can upgrade their cars via the Tesla app if they wish to do so before the price increase. The company said that over 100,000 owners had access to FSD at the end of Q2, with that number sure to grow with the latest update.

FSD's not-so-pretty past

It wouldn't be a Tesla announcement without a side of controversy. Tesla raising the price on FSD is really only a portion of the story. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) is currently investigating FSD and the less capable Autopilot suite regarding potential system defects. This includes Tesla's monitoring — or lack thereof — of driver attentiveness when using these systems and how that could be a danger to other cars on the road.

Late last month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles publicly criticized Tesla for misleading customers about what FSD can and cannot do. Despite FSD's full name, there are still no cars on sale today that can fully self-drive without driver intervention. Similar to other products like GM's Super Cruise, Ford's BlueCruise and Mercedes-Benz's upcoming Drive Pilot, Tesla's driver assist systems require attention from the person behind the wheel at all times.

Edmunds says

Paying $15,000 for a feature that is not yet available (at least in its full form) is an ask that only Tesla can pull off. Throw in some active investigations of that same feature, and it makes even less sense why consumers would be willing to test supposed safety systems in their pre-final-release forms. For now, FSD remains a sale of the future — just like the Tesla Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster.