Tesla was being sued for the use of 'Autopilot' and 'Full self-driving' terms
InsideEVs.com
In 2020, a Munich court ruled that Tesla used misleading marketing tactics in Germany by using the words "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" for its driver-assist features. The lawsuit was filed by Wettbewerbszentrale (Competition Center), a network of German companies and one of the largest, most influential national self-regulatory institutions.
The allegation was that Tesla’s use of the words “Autopilot included” in its vehicles was false advertising since the car still requires the driver to operate and stay vigilant. It was also alleged that Tesla's Full Self-Driving suite was misleading marketing.
In October of 2021, Tesla appealed the court’s ruling in the Higher Regional Court of Munich, which ruled in Tesla’s favor. The decision was only made public recently, according to TeslaMag.de, an industry insider who was able to confirm the verdict.
This was an important victory for Tesla, as the Competition Center wanted to ban the company’s use of words like “Autopilot” in its marketing. This suggestion was rejected by the Higher Regional Court of Munich, which said that anybody visiting Tesla’s website to purchase an electric vehicle is suitably informed that the product is not fully autonomous.
Despite Tesla's overall win, the court ruled that the company would have to modify some language on its official website in Germany when referring to its vehicles’ upcoming features. Full Self Driving, for example, would have to be listed with an estimated availability rather than “by the end of the year.” More specifically, the feature language can't just read "coming soon," "next up," or "by the end of the year."
Instead, there has to be a date that Tesla expects the feature to be available to its customers. This was only a small win for the Competition Center which initially wanted to ban what they called misleading language on the company website.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles also initiated legal action against Tesla over the company's use of the words “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” for its driver-assist features. The legal action is aimed at preventing the misuse of new vehicle technologies. Tesla’s successful appeal in Germany is hopefully a sign that they will be equally successful in the United States.
After several years of allowing third-party developers and tinkerers free access to the Tesla API, Tesla has finally announced a pricing for their API. Back in 2023, Tesla introduced their new API system, along with them being “temporarily free.”
Back then, Tesla announced their Discovery tier, which had some limitations but set the groundwork for what was to come. For the first time, developers had official documentation and support, but pricing still was to be determined.
Tesla recently announced pricing for its APIs, which, unfortunately, is much higher than many were expecting. We’ll start by reviewing everything that’s been announced and then explore what could happen for both home users and larger third-party apps.
Fleet API - Usage Based Pricing
Tesla is implementing a pay-per-use pricing model that charges users based on overall usage. Some items, such as Streaming Signals and Commands, are at a lower cost, which helps to incentivize developers to be smart with the data they’re pulling from vehicles. Meanwhile, vehicle data via REST APIs and waking up vehicles is much more expensive.
Here’s the pricing chart:
Data Type
Signals/Requests
Cost
Streaming Signals
150,000
$1
Commands
1,000
$1
Data
500
$1
Wakes
50
$1
Tesla seems like they want developers to focus on what’s happening in the now - rather than being able to track a long driving session or pull charging history from the vehicle. While some things seem cheap and some seem expensive, the overall cost is still fairly high, even for limited personal use.
Additionally, the new Fleet Telemetry doesn’t offer all the data points that are available from the older vehicle data API. That means that you won’t always be able to take advantage of the cheaper “Streaming Signals” data type - but have to fall back to the data package - which is far more expensive.
Many services use REST APIs for vehicle data at about a one-minute interval, which means that each hour of driving or charging could cost about $0.12. Since the average vehicle drives for about an hour a day and charges for an hour or two, that could cost about $0.36 cents per day — per vehicle.
Looking at a month’s worth, that’s about $10/month per vehicle. While the streaming signal API is much cheaper, the total cost would vary depending on the interval and data being collected. Each signal is a piece of data, so if you’re tracking the vehicle’s speed, location, odometer, state and battery level, that’s five signals.
Fleet API - Personal Use
Tesla’s Fleet API provides each Tesla account with a $10 monthly discount - which Tesla says can cover data streaming, 100 commands, and two wakes per day for two vehicles per month. There isn’t a discount per vehicle - it's per account, so if you have more vehicles, it’s less beneficial to you. This should allow home tinkerers to create some automations and track some data without having to pay for access.
However, this is a fairly restrictive amount of signals/requests for personal use - let’s look at the author’s Home Assistant integration for a fairly simple example.
On average, with a Home Assistant tablet at home to start/stop charging, check charge states, precondition vehicles, send Google Map targets, and a few more simple commands for just two vehicles - we make, on average, about 200 requests a week per vehicle. That comes out to 1,600 requests a month and 400 wake-ups a month.
We’re also requesting data from the Data portion of the API - not the Streaming Signals portion of the API - and that’s about every five minutes while charging - so a wake isn’t needed. With 480 data requests per vehicle per month, we’re already starting to flex the basic $10. Of course, you also want to track your trip data and output that - so add in another 500-ish requests per vehicle based on the amount of driving and interval levels.
We’re looking at $8 in wake-ups, $4 for commands, $8 for data, and at least $1 in Streaming Signals. Just for two vehicles with a fairly basic set of data tracking and usage of commands, we’re already past the $10 mark.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a total of $21 per month—minus the $10 discount Tesla provides per account. At its current usage, our Home Assistant integration would require us to pay $11 for API access a month—as much as Premium Connectivity.
While switching to the streaming API is the answer here, it’ll take time for tools and services to transition to the new way of gathering data. Unfortunately, Tesla isn’t giving developers and home users a lot of time, with pricing taking effect on January 1st, 2025.
Third-Party Developers
Take all those fairly conservative numbers I’ve provided - and scale those up 3-4x. That’s how much data is requested by popular third-party apps. They’re looking at monthly costs well beyond $50 per vehicle, with current data draws. Again, they’ll need to transition to streaming APIs where possible and optimize the data they gather, but Tesla isn’t giving developers a lot of time to do so.
Third-party developers will need to find ways to optimize their workflows, potentially raise prices, and work within and around Tesla’s new strict rules on pulling data from vehicles.
Vehicle Support
Unfortunately, 2020 and older Model S and Model X vehicles don’t support the streaming API, which means that they may not be supported by most third-party services going forward.
We’re hoping Tesla takes some steps to make its API more flexible and affordable, as even simple home use can get quite expensive.
SiriusXM is launching its streaming app for the Model 3, Model Y and the Cyberetruck as part of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update.
SiriusXM is a satellite and internet radio streaming service that’s been available in the Model S and Model X with the SiriusXM satellite receiver for many years. However, it has never been available in the Model 3, Model Y, or the Cybertruck - all of which do not have the receiver.
SiriusXM is one of the most popular satellite streaming services globally - Sirius offers bundled packages with other auto manufacturers (like the Model S and Model X) and standalone receivers. Now, they’re offering a different package for Tesla’s other vehicles.
SiriusXM subscribers will get a Tesla-tailored experience with a fully functional app that has a layout similar to Tesla’s other streaming services. Alongside all of SiriusXM’s regular services offered in their 360L package, customers will also receive Sirius’ full podcast offering.
The Tesla package includes the following services:
Ad-free, live-curated music channels across all genres.
Custom stations that users can generate from their favorite bands or artists.
A massive podcast library - including news, comedy, entertainment - and more.
Live sports coverage and analysis from over 20 live sports channels, with industry experts and hosts.
News, Politics, Entertainment, Comedy, Celebrity Interviews, and more on live and recorded channels.
A personalized for-you page in your Tesla (and in the SiriusXM app) that delivers recommended content based on your listening preferences - and it adapts based on your listening and time of day.
A content-discovery system that uses listening preferences to help guide you to new music, channels, and podcasts.
Integrated voice search
Live Sports is an awesome use-case for SiriusXM!
Not a Tesla App
Cost
SiriusXM for your Tesla will cost $9.99 USD a month for the first two years if you sign up using their special starter offer. Once that two-year period is over, you’ll pay $24.98 USD a month to keep your subscription at the same tier. However, SiriusXM offers multiple plans and multiple tiers that you can switch to to match your preferences after the two years.
Requirements
Like Tesla’s other music services, you’ll need Tesla’s Premium Connectivity to listen to SiriusXM or an active WiFi/Hotspot connection. You can open up the SiriusXM app on your Tesla and then log in or create an account.
If you’re already a SiriusXM user, you can either log in to your existing account and take advantage of your services or create a new one. Go ahead and scan the QR code with your mobile device - it’ll take you to the sign-up page to get your new account started.
When you see this UI, go ahead and press the big blue button!
Not a Tesla App
Free Trial
If you want to take advantage of the three-month free trial, you’ll need to create a new SiriusXM account - even if you already had one previously. A new e-mail address will be required.
There’s no payment required for the free trial, and you’re not required to submit payment information to SiriusXM - so it’s really a risk-free trial. Once the trial ends, you’ll be prompted to use the mobile app or website to enter payment information and select a paid plan to continue listening.
Model S and Model X
The Model S and Model X will retain their SiriusXM capability through their satellite receivers, and it seems that Tesla will continue shipping them with satellite receivers for the time being.
While no part is the best part, Tesla likely has a long-term contract with SiriusXM to continue providing the radios in these two vehicles. Once that’s over, or maybe in a potential future refresh, Tesla may also pivot to using the streaming app.
