Tesla paywalls safety feature behind $99/month subscription: 'Making [it] more accessible should be the priority'

Electric vehicle drivers who order a new Tesla Model 3 or Model Y will no longer get Basic Autopilot with their rides.

"The move forces buyers to subscribe to the $99/month Full Self-Driving (Supervised) package to access lane-keeping capabilities that were previously free," Electrek reported, calling the move "desperate" and "a cash grab."

At the beginning of the year, the company fell from atop the electric vehicle heap as China's affordable BYD brand continued to surge in Europe and Australia, CBS noted.

Basic Autopilot included technology to keep all Teslas in their lanes and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, which keeps a vehicle at the same speed as the one in front of it, Electrek said. It has been around for almost seven years.

New vehicles will include TACC, but drivers will have to pay for the Autosteer function. Additionally, this month, FSD will only be available by subscription. It had been available for a one-time fee of $8,000.

"By removing the free tier of Autopilot, Tesla creates a gap in functionality that nudges users toward the $99/month FSD subscription. While [CEO] Elon Musk has hinted that FSD pricing could increase as the software improves, the current strategy seems focused on volume, increasing the 'take rate' of subscriptions, which we reported has been quite low," Fred Lambert wrote for Electrek.

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Electrek called the Tesla change "a bad move for consumers and a confusing one for the brand," and it pointed out that much cheaper vehicles than the Model 3 and Y, such as the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic, come with lane assist features.

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"For a company that has consistently argued that Tesla owners are safer when using Autopilot and FSD, making the feature more accessible should be the priority," Lambert stated.

Commenters also tracked the act to a certain $1 trillion compensation package.

"Isn't Elon Musk's latest bonus package dependent on achieving a number of FSD subscriptions?" one wrote. "Soon radio and climate control will be included in that package."

Someone else added: "It's not about improving the company's revenue but rearranging it to fit into the incentive structure for the CEO's compensation package. Even if Tesla loses money due to these changes, Elon might still come out ahead, and that seems to be the priority here."

"What a boneheaded move," another user opined. "This company has fallen so far that I just don't see it recovering unless Musk is gone, and the board will never do that. They are going to ride the train all the way down."

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