Tesla Full-Self Driving (FSD) will cost $12,000 from January 17

It was only yesterday when we talked about the Model X Plaid getting more expensive after losing the five-seat layout and now Tesla is announcing yet another price hike. This time around, it impacts all four models as Elon Musk says the Full-Self Driving capability is going to cost $2,000 more than before. Starting January 17, getting FSD for your new Tesla will set you back a hefty $12,000.

The announcement was made by Elon Musk on Twitter and it impacts only vehicles sold in the United States since it’s the only country where FSD is available for the time being. As a refresher, it can be had only if the so-called driver safety score is 97 at the very least. It remains to be seen whether the FSD subscription launched last year for a $199 monthly fee will also be subjected to a price hike, but that seems quite likely.

As some of you will recall, FSD was temporarily available for $8,000 before being subjected to price bumps. To some extent, it’s understandable the feature is getting more expensive since Tesla gradually makes it better through over-the-air updates bringing new software to improve the technology and fix bugs.

Speaking of which, Tesla’s head honcho warns FSD will get more expensive with time: “FSD price will rise as we get closer to FSD production code release.” For the time being, the system comes along with the Autopilot suite of driver-assistance features, such as assisted steering (on some highways), automatic lane changes, Summon function, and automatic parking.

Bear in mind FSD is officially rated as a Level 2 system, which is inferior to the Level 3 approval received recently by Mercedes for its EQS and S-Class. Some would argue the term Full-Self Driving is not correct since it implies the vehicle does all the work all the time, which certainly isn’t the case. At least not for the current version of the system.

[Source: Elon Musk / Twitter]