Following the recent announcement that Tesla will discontinue the one-time purchase option for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package on February 14, 2026, CEO Elon Musk has dropped another bombshell: the monthly subscription price is set to rise.
The Leap to Unsupervised Autonomy
Currently, the FSD subscription is priced at $99 per month in the United States. However, Musk recently signaled on X (formerly Twitter) that this rate will increase as the system's capabilities improve. The justification for this price hike lies in the transition from "Supervised" to "Unsupervised" FSD.
Musk stated that the "massive value jump" will occur when the system reaches a level where a driver can be on their phone or even sleep during the entire ride. This represents a shift from Level 2 driver assistance to a true autonomous experience where the human is no longer the primary safety monitor.
Strategic Transition to Subscriptions
The move to scrap the $8,000 one-time purchase option (effective Valentine's Day 2026) marks a significant pivot in Tesla's business model. By moving exclusively to a subscription-only service, Tesla aims to:
Create Recurring Revenue: Ensuring a steady cash flow rather than one-off hardware-tied payments.
Lower the Barrier to Entry: Allowing more users to try the software at a lower initial cost.
Unlock Massive Pay Packages: Reports suggest that hitting a target of 10 million active FSD subscriptions is a key milestone for Musk's incentive-based compensation.
The most exciting news is that on January 22, 2026, Tesla officially began testing its Unsupervised Robotaxi in Austin, Texas. This marks the first step in proving Musk's claim that "unmanned" systems are indeed viable in specific areas.
Furthermore, a recently updated piece of information is that Tesla has begun removing traditional Autopilot features (such as automatic lane keeping) from standard models in the US and Canada, replacing them with only Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (FSD) to encourage users to subscribe to FSD instead.
Despite the cutting-edge technology, analyst reports indicate that currently only about 12% of Tesla owners choose to pay for FSD. Future price increases are therefore a double-edged sword that Tesla must consider, as they could potentially lead to a decline in adoption rates.
It is anticipated that regulatory bodies in Europe and China could begin approving FSD (Supervised) as early as February 2026, presenting a tremendous opportunity to expand its global subscription base.
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