Tesla's Full Self Driving mode is about to get more expensive, again

Tesla's autonomous driving package, known as Full Self Driving or FSD, is about to get pricier.

Early Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the price for the next-level Autopilot system is going up by $2,000. It's currently listed at $8,000 on the Tesla website.

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FSD is strange in that Tesla charges people for self-driving features that aren't available yet. Eventually, Musk envisions Tesla vehicles operating as robotaxis with no one at the steering wheel.

If you snag the current $8,000 price for FSD, you're (in theory) locking in future capabilities for your electric vehicle. Tesla even tries to scare customers into adding the autonomous mode with the threat that "prices are likely to increase over time with new feature releases."

The price for FSD has been inching up over the years. Just this summer, Tesla bumped the price up another $1,000 — for autonomous features that weren't available until Tuesday night to a small group of select drivers. Now that some beta users received the initial FSD rollout, Musk is pushing up the price to $10,000.

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On Tesla's third quarter earnings call Wednesday, Musk shared a bit more about the limited release of the FSD features. He said it allows Tesla cars to autosteer on city streets, which was previously only available on highways and major thoroughfares.

Only some early users received the autonomous upgrade this week. "We're starting very slow and very cautiously because the world is a complex and messy place," Musk said on the call. Nothing about what the new package includes has been posted yet.

That might change when more people receive the new features. Musk said by early next week more early users will have it and "hopefully" a wide release to eligible Tesla owners will be available by the end of the year.

He promised that FSD will improve as more people use it in the wild. "As it collects more data it gets more robust," he said.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk says 'Full Self-Driving' mode on Tesla is finally here, sort of

The Self-Driving Coalition, which includes Waymo, Lyft, Ford, Aurora, and other autonomous vehicle companies, sent out a reminder that Tesla's "self-driving" package is not truly autonomous. As the mobility industry standards from SAE International lay out, fully self-driving vehicles don't require a human to take over in nearly every situation. Tesla's Autopilot and new FSD package still require drivers to pay attention to the road and vehicle.

UPDATE: Oct. 23, 2020, 6:59 a.m. PT Musk announced that the price change will be postponed until Thursday.

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He also mentioned a FSD option available for monthly rentals, but that's not until 2021.