Electric carmaker Tesla will offer its customers in the US a month’s free trial of its driver-assist technology – Full Self-Driving (FSD), the company’s CEO Elon Musk said. The offer comes due to softening demand and price competition pressuring the company’s sales and margins. Tesla’s driver assistant software, priced at USD 12,000, has been long touted as a potential profit generator, however, regulatory and legal scrutiny has often come in the way of Musk offering full autonomy that is being promised for years.
On a social media post on X, Musk said, “All US cars that are capable of FSD will be enabled for a one-month trial this week.” The company’s staff has been instructed to give demonstrations of FSD to new buyers and owners of serviced vehicles, according to two emails verified by a source, Reuters reported. “Almost no one actually realizes how well (supervised) FSD actually works,” Musk said in one of the two emails, sent to Tesla employees. The company also offers its FSD software at a subscription of USD 199 a month. However, Tesla says it does not make its vehicles autonomous and requires active driver supervision.
The “FSD take rate” has been declining in North America, with about 14% of Tesla customers buying the package in the third quarter of 2022, down from a record high of 53% in the third quarter of 2019, as per Researcher Troy Teslike. Additionally, the company’s margins have been hurt by a price war with rivals that started more than a year ago. In January, the company also warned of “notably lower” delivery growth this year, as it focuses on production of its next-generation EV.
Analyst Sam Abuelsamid said at Guidehouse Insights, “The combination of substantial price cuts on the vehicles and dramatically lower FSD take rates has severely hurt Tesla’s margins.” He added, “The mandate to demonstrate FSD as it is today, is just the latest in a long-running series of end-of-quarter stunts by Musk intended to boost deliveries and revenues.”