Tesla to raise Full Self-Driving price to $12,000

January 8, 2022

By Henry Farkas

On January 17th, Tesla is raising its Full Self-Driving price by $2,000, bringing it to $12,000 in the US.

Tesla's FSD to cost $12k

BlackTesla/YouTube

What's interesting about this price increase is that if you buy a Tesla with FSD, you won't actually get the main feature, autosteer on city streets, until after you press the "button", get the safety score game, and play the game long enough to amass at least a few hundred miles of driving with a safety score of 99 or 100. There have been some testers who received the beta with scores as low as 97, but that has not been the norm.

What's also interesting is that you can rent FSD for $199 a month. The price of the monthly subscription is not going up, making it look more attractive after this latest price hike.

You previously had to keep the monthly subscription for 50 months before buying the FSD package became more economical. With this latest FSD price increase, it will now take you more than 60 months. That's more than five years straight of having the monthly subscription before the FSD package would be the better choice.

Tesla has been steadily increasing the price of its FSD package. After restructuring the FSD suite in 2019, Tesla added basic Autopilot for free and made FSD a $5,000 add-on.

A month later the cost of FSD went up to $6k and it has steadily gone up since then. Elon Musk has said that Tesla will continue to raise the cost of FSD as Tesla gets closer to achieving full autonomy.

Historical FSD Prices

Historical FSD prices since Tesla revamped it's FSD offering in 2019.

Date	FSD Cost
April 2019	$5,000
May 2019	$6,000
August 2019	$7,000
July 2020	$8,000
October 2020	$10,000
January 2022	$12,000

Once FSD becomes a truly autonomous algorithm, Elon Musk has said that people will be able to send their cars out to work as a ride share vehicle without needing to be in the driver's seat.

If you live in an area where lots of people use ride share cars, you could probably put a fleet of Teslas on the road and each one would pay for itself, but Tesla is years away from achieving a truly autonomous vehicle.

Tesla to Allow Drivers to Display License Plates in Vehicle Visualization

October 30, 2024

By Karan Singh

Rendering of what Tesla's license plate feature could look like

Not a Tesla App

Tesla update 2024.38 has started rolling out to several regions and vehicles. Thanks to Tesla hacker Greentheonly, we have a behind-the-scenes look at some new features coming to Teslas.

License Plate Display

According to Greentheonly, it looks like Tesla may soon let you display your actual license plate in the vehicle’s visualization on the screen. In our article, The Most Request Tesla Features, several readers suggested displaying the vehicle’s license plate in the visualization instead of a blank, white plate.

It looks like Tesla will be doing just that, at least in China. Green found references that appear to conclude that you’ll be able to display your vehicle’s plate on screen. This will likely be user input, so you could have it say anything you’d like, and it doesn’t have to be your actual license plate.

For many owners, who may find it difficult to remember their license plate, this could serve a practical purpose in addition to adding to the visualization's realism.

While Green was only able to say it’ll be available in China, we expect this is due to China’s software development team working on it and that it’ll eventually be released worldwide.

We’ve seen several features originally released in China and later applied to everyone. Some of these include the Air Quality Index display, the trip meter that displays traffic along your route, and even the ability to change your vehicle’s color.

While code for this feature was found in update 2024.38, we may not be turned on in China yet. We suspect this feature may be a strong candidate for Tesla’s upcoming holiday update.

FSD Hardware Version Display

As part of the 2024.38 update, Tesla has now made it easy to determine whether your vehicle includes Hardware 3 or Hardware 4. You can now simply navigate to Controls > Software and tap Additional Vehicle Information. In addition to other hardware information about your vehicle, your Autopilot hardware version will now be listed as well.

You can see whether your vehicle has HW2.5, HW3, or AI4. This in-car display is useful, but if you don’t have access to the vehicle, you can always use our guide on how to determine the hardware version of a Tesla.

New Battery Health Test & Service Mode Improvements

Green found some additional things as well. There’s a new and improved Battery Health Test. The new test will show you how your car scores compared to similar vehicles in the Tesla fleet.

In addition, maintenance records can now be permanently stored “in the car.” It doesn’t appear that this feature is activated yet, but it’s likely in active development with some parts leaking out in the 2024.38 update.

Tesla has included various Service Mode improvements and new visualizations in this update.

Leaked Images of the Tesla Model Y Juniper Refresh

October 30, 2024

By Karan Singh

Mr Li on X

It’s been a while since we saw the last batch of leaked images of the Model Y Juniper refresh. That inspiring photo, alongside other images, set the blood of many concept artists on fire. We saw a ton of awesome concepts of Project Juniper, and now there are even more leaked images.

Mr Li on X came across some covered-up Project Juniper vehicles recently and he managed to get various shots of the vehicle.

Juniper Images

This front image reveals what looks like two rows of lights, possibly confirming the front light bar for the Model Y refresh — similar to the one on the Cybercab.

The rear side has a lot of lights on it!

Mr Li on X

The rear side shows a ton of brake lights, but it’s not clear why. While it looks like the Model Y refresh will also feature a rear light bar similar to the Cybertruck, there isn’t strong evidence of that in this photo.

Mr Li on X

There's an obvious set of lights at the bottom, so it looks like the Model Y refresh will be similar to the new Model 3 where the bottom lights can operate as brake lights when the one-piece tail lights and trunk are up.

Mr Li on X

In the last photo, we see that the overall form factor of the refreshed Model Y will remain unchanged, and Tesla is focusing the changes on the front and rear ends of the vehicle, much like the Model 3 refresh. However, in this one shot, we can also see what appears to be red light leaking out of the rear camera cover opening, possibly due to the rear light bar.

The Model Y is not only Tesla’s best-selling vehicle but also the world’s best-selling car in 2023. This year, it’s expected to be the best-selling vehicle in the United States and again in the world, so this refresh will be huge for Tesla.

We expect most of the interior to remain the same as the Model 3 refresh, which saw substantial improvements in quality, noise reduction, and performance. Check out our wishlist of more things we hope to see in the Model Y refresh.

Dominic’s Concept

Dominic's Concept, in all its glory.

@DominicBRNKMN on X

@DominicBRNKMN made another fantastic set of concepts based on these new images. Given he had the most accurate Model 3 Highland concept before the official launch, we’re pretty sure his latest work be close here as well.

@DominicBRNKMN

We’re super excited to see the eventual reveal of Project Juniper, which is expected in the first half of 2025. However, expect to see a few more leaks before production kicks off at Giga Shanghai.