Tesla CEO Elon Musk Says Retrofitting FSD On Older Rival Cars Not Worth It: 'Too Many Systems Need To Change'

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday that though rival automakers can license its full self-driving software (FSD), it will be best suited for integration into new cars.

What Happened: Retrofitting the software into existing cars might not be worth it given the number of systems that need to be changed, Musk wrote on X. However, it is certainly possible to integrate the software onto new cars, he added.

However, Musk seems to be the only one convinced of the use of the software for rival cars.

During Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call in January, the company revealed that it has not entered into an FSD licensing agreement with any rival companies. Though the company had some tentative conversations, none of them progressed into an agreement, it said.

"I think they (rival automakers) don't believe it's real quite yet," Musk said."I do want to emphasize that if I were CEO of another car company, I would definitely be calling Tesla and asking to license Tesla full self-driving technology.”

The CEO first expressed willingness to license Tesla's autopilot and FSD technologies to other car companies in June.

Why It Matters: In the fourth quarter, Tesla reported total revenue of $25,167 million, up 3% year-on-year. Revenue was impacted by lower FSD revenue year-on-year, the company said, while reasoning it as due to the wide release of FSD Beta in North America in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Musk also took to X in January to add that the company's revenue will get ‘really crazy' once FSD is approved by regulators.

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