Tesla car owners who did not initially opt for the $12,000 Full Self-Driving (FSD) option will now have the opportunity to try it for free, provided their car is equipped for it. Elon Musk announced this development in X, though not in plain text. However, there seems to be more to Tesla's famed driver assistance system.
An internal memo from Tesla, reportedly seen by Bloomberg News, instructed company officials to install FSD on all cars and conduct a short test drive with owners to demonstrate the system. According to the Bloomberg report, this directive applies not only to newly purchased cars, but also to owners of older cars who visit a service center.
The motivation behind this FSD guidance remains unclear, whether it is dictated by legal obligations, marketing initiatives, or a combination of the two. In December 2023, Tesla issued a recall order for more than two million cars to apply a software update to its Autopilot system aimed at enforcing stricter measures to prevent abuse by drivers.
A comprehensive investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found problems with the Autopilot feature in full self-driving. The update subsequently introduced additional driver notifications encouraging compliance with steering wheel practicality requirements and implemented a repeat abuse deactivation feature.
In the alleged Tesla memorandum, Musk allegedly emphasized that many people underestimated the efficiency of the system, considering it a "difficult requirement" to educate car owners about its capabilities, as reported by Bloomberg.