Tesla Full Self-Driving To Be Available For Monthly Rentals Next Year, Musk Says

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said Thursday the company will introduce a way to rent the full-self driving feature on a monthly basis, beginning next year.

What Happened: A monthly rental option for the FSD will be available “sometime next year,” Musk announced on Twitter. 

The Tesla CEO also said that the impending price hike for the software due Monday is pushed to Thursday.

The executive clarified that the increased price would only apply to the United States for now. “One week clock will start in other countries as beta is released,” Musk said. 

The announcement of a rental option has spurred a debate on social media regarding the pricing with several Reddit users speculating it could cost anywhere from $50 a day to a yearly subscription of $2,000.

A user “Globalserviced” said he would “happily pay for a subscription service” as the “full on capital outlay is ridiculous."

“I’ll be pretty upset if I pay $8k for it now and next year I could’ve just rented it for less than that!” said Reddit user ACGrzz.

Why It Matters: Musk had announced earlier that the FSD price would be raised $2,000 beginning Monday after the beta version was released. At that time, there was no clarity on how the price increase would affect non-U.S. customers.

The FSD beta version began rolling out on Tuesday to a limited number of users, with the automaker taking a slow and cautious approach. Several such users have shared their experiences on social media, with largely positive feedback.

In July, the company had raised the price of the FSD feature to $8,000. 

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 0.75% higher at $425.79 on Thursday and gained 0.16% in the after-hours session.