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Tesla Autopilot, Full Self-Driving ‘marketing’ under fire from familiar U.S. senator

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United States Senator Ed Markey is back to casting stones in the direction of Tesla’s Autopilot, calling for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate “potentially deceptive marketing.”

Markey, a notable critic of Tesla’s Autopilot systems, has had a history of being skeptical and calling for investigations of the company’s semi-autonomous systems on several occasions in the past. Now, Markey, along with Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, penned a letter to Lina Khan, the head of the FTC, stating they are concerned about Tesla’s “advertising” of Autopilot.

“Tesla and Mr. Musk’s repeated overstatements of their vehicle’s capabilities—despite clear and frequent warnings—demonstrate a deeply concerning disregard for the safety of those on the road and require real accountability,” the Senators wrote, according to the Wall Street Journal“Their claims put Tesla drivers—and all of the traveling public—at risk of serious injury or death.”

Interestingly, Tesla’s statistics have shown Autopilot as an extremely safe alternative compared to human-controlled vehicles. Its most recent safety report had Autopilot-operating vehicles involved in accidents significantly less frequently than the national average.

The request from the Senators comes just days after the NHTSA launched an internal probe into around 765,000 Tesla vehicles built between 2014 and 2021. The root cause of the investigation concerns 11 incidents of Tesla vehicles crashing into emergency vehicles.

Tesla’s Autopilot probe worries Morgan Stanley with ‘reputational risks’

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Tesla maintains that its Autopilot functionality is not a replacement for human driving altogether. The company states that drivers are required to remain attentive when operating with Autopilot and that they are required to remain alert to the vehicle’s operation and its surroundings.

On its website, under the FAQ section, a question, “Do I still need to pay attention while using Autopilot,” is listed. The company’s response is:

“Yes. Autopilot is a hands-on driver assistance system that is intended to be used only with a fully attentive driver. It does not turn a Tesla into a self-driving car nor does it make a car autonomous.”

Interestingly, several of the accidents under question were caused by the driver’s negligence operating the vehicle, including two cases where the driver was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Another one of the cases involves a driver with a suspended license.

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The Senators also included the notorious “Full Self-Driving” video that Tesla released in 2019, which shows a driver operating their vehicle without making any interventions. The video has over 18 million views on YouTube but does not reflect the vehicle’s current capabilities and is only a demonstration of what is to come from Tesla when it reaches Level 5 autonomy.

“As Tesla makes widely available its FSD and Autopilot technology and doubles down on its inflated promises, we are alarmed by the prospect of more drivers relying more frequently on systems that do not nearly deliver the expected level of safety,” the Senators wrote in their memo.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with tips! Email us at tips@teslarati.com, or you can email me directly at joey@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk doubles down on Tesla Cybercab timeline once again

“Cybercab, which has no pedals or steering wheel, starts production in April,” Musk said.

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Credit: @JT59052914/X

CEO Elon Musk doubled down once again on the timeline of production for the Tesla Cybercab, marking yet another example of the confidence he has in the company’s ability to meet the aggressive timeline for the vehicle.

It is the third time in the past six months that Musk has explicitly stated Cybercab will enter production in April 2026.

On Monday morning, Musk reiterated that Cybercab will enter its initial manufacturing phase in April, and that it would not have any pedals or a steering wheel, two things that have been speculated as potential elements of the vehicle, if needed.

Musk has been known to be aggressive with timelines, and some products have been teased for years and years before they finally come to fruition.

One of perhaps the biggest complaints about Musk is the fact that Tesla does not normally reach the deadlines that are set: the Roadster, Semi, and Unsupervised Full Self-Driving suite are a few of those that have been given “end of this year” timelines, but have not been fulfilled.

Nevertheless, many are able to look past this as part of the process. New technology takes time to develop, but we’d rather not hear about when, and just the progress itself.

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However, the Cybercab is a bit different. Musk has said three times in the past six months that Cybercab will be built in April, and this is something that is sort of out of the ordinary for him.

In December 2025, he said that Tesla was “testing the production system” of the vehicle and that “real production ramp starts in April.

Elon Musk shares incredible detail about Tesla Cybercab efficiency

On January 23, he said that “Cybercab production starts in April.” He did the same on February 16, marking yet another occasion that Musk has his sights set on April for initial production of the vehicle.

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Musk has also tempered expectations for the Cybercab’s initial production phase. In January, he noted that Cybercab would be subjected to the S-curve-type production speed:

“…initial production is always very slow and follows an S-curve. The speed of production ramp is inversely proportionate to how many new parts and steps there are. For Cybercab and Optimus, almost everything is new, so the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast.”

Cybercab will be a huge part of Tesla’s autonomous ride-sharing plans moving forward.

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Elon Musk

Tesla owners explore potential FSD pricing options as uncertainty looms

We asked Tesla owners what the company should price Full Self-Driving moving forward, as now it’s going to be subscription-based. There were some interesting proposals.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is starting the process of removing the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, as it pulled the purchase option in the United States over the weekend.

However, there has been some indication by CEO Elon Musk that the price of the subscription will increase as the suite becomes more robust. But Tesla finds itself in an interesting situation with this: the take rate for Full Self-Driving at $99 per month is about 12 percent, and Musk needs a significant increase in this rate to reach a tranche in his new compensation package.

This leaves Tesla and owners in their own respective limbos: Tesla needs to find a price that will incentivize consumers to use FSD, while owners need Tesla to offer something that is attractive price-wise.

We asked Tesla owners what the company should price Full Self-Driving moving forward, as now it’s going to be subscription-based. There were some interesting proposals.

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Price Reduction

Although people are willing to pay the $99 per month for the FSD suite, it certainly is too high for some owners. Many suggested that if Tesla would back down the price to $49, or somewhere around that region, many owners would immediately subscribe.

Others suggested $69, which would make a lot of sense considering Musk’s obsession with that number.

Different Pricing for Supervised and Unsupervised

With the release of the Unsupervised version of Full Self-Driving, Tesla has a unique opportunity to offer pricing for different attention level requirements.

Unsupervised Full Self-Driving would be significantly more expensive, but not needed by everyone. Many people indicate they would still like to drive their cars manually from time to time, but others said they’d just simply be more than okay with only having Supervised FSD available in their cars.

Time-Based Pricing

Tesla could price FSD on a duration-based pricing model, including Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Annual rates, which would incentivize longer durations with better pricing.

Annually, the rate could be $999 per year, while Monthly would stay at $99. However, a Daily pass of FSD would cost somewhere around $10, while a $30 per week cost seems to be ideal.

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These all seem to be in line with what consumers might want. However, Tesla’s attitude with FSD is that it is the future of transportation, and with it offering only a Monthly option currently, it does not seem as if it will look as short-term as a Daily pass.

Tiered Pricing

This is perhaps the most popular option, according to what we’ve seen in comments and replies.

This would be a way to allow owners to pick and choose which FSD features they would like most and pay for them. The more features available to you, the more it costs.

For example, if someone only wanted Supervised driving and Autopark, it could be priced at $50 per month. Add in Summon, it could be $75.

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This would allow people to pick only the features they would use daily.

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Tesla leaves a single loophole to purchase Full Self-Driving outright

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has left a single loophole to purchase Full Self-Driving outright. On Sunday, the option officially disappeared from the Online Design Studio in the United States, as Tesla transitioned to a Subscription-only purchasing plan for the FSD suite.

However, there is still one way to get the Full Self-Driving suite in an outright manner, which would not require the vehicle owner to pay monthly for the driver assistance program — but you have to buy a Model S or Model X.

Months ago, Tesla launched a special “Luxe Package” for the Model S and Model X, which included Full Self-Driving for the life of the vehicle, as well as free Supercharging at over 75,000 locations, as well as free Premium Connectivity, and a Four-Year Premium Service package, which includes wheel and tire protection, windshiel protection, and recommended maintenance.

It would also be available through the purchase of a Cyberbeast, the top trim of the Cybertruck lineup.

This small loophole would allow owners to avoid the monthly payment, but there have been some changes in the fine print of the program, as Tesla has added that it will not be transferable to subsequent vehicle owners or to another vehicle.

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This goes for the FSD and the Supercharging offers that come with the Luxe Package.

For now, Tesla still has the Full Self-Driving subscription priced at $99 per month. However, that price is expected to increase over the course of some time, especially as its capabilities improve. Tesla seems to be nearing Unsupervised FSD based on Musk’s estimates for the Cybercab program.

There is the potential that Tesla offers both Unsupervised and Supervised FSD for varying prices, but this is not confirmed.

In other countries, Tesla has pushed back the deadline to purchase the suite outright, as in Australia, it has been adjusted to March 31.

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