All Teslas will come with the company’s latest driver assistance program after an order from CEO Elon Musk.
According to his memo to employees Monday, they must install and show customers how to use Tesla’s Full Self-Driving program before handing the vehicle over to its new owner.
“Almost no one actually realizes how well (supervised) FSD actually works,” Mr. Musk wrote. “I know this will slow down the delivery process, but it is nonetheless a hard requirement.”
The policy has a price. Although new Tesla vehicles come with the company’s Autopilot technology already installed, Full Self-Driving costs $199 a month for continued use.
It’s unclear if customers will be forced to pay for the service, but Mr. Musk did announce Monday that all capable Teslas will receive one free month of access to Full Self-Driving.
The policy change is a way for Tesla to improve the trust and safety record of the company’s driver assistance programs and to promote the use of the technology.
While Tesla has made it clear that its driver assistance technology doesn’t turn its cars into autonomous vehicles, rampant misuse and misunderstanding of the programs have led to issues for the company. Federal regulators have opened numerous investigations into what it alleges is dangerous technology.
Over the past seven years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened 41 investigations into crashes where Tesla’s Autopilot program was in use. The continued probes and crashes that have gone viral have hurt trust with consumers.
Recently, at the direction of the NHTSA, Tesla issued a recall on its cars to improve its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving programs. The recall is focused only on the software, so customers don’t have to bring in their vehicles.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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