Tesla Switches To 'Full Self-Driving Supervised' For New Cars – And The Conspiracy Theories Are Already Flying

Tesla has quietly made a big change to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package, causing quite a stir. If you check your Tesla app today, you might notice something different: the feature that many Tesla owners have paid thousands for, known as “Full Self-Driving Capability,” has been rebranded as “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).” 

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A minor tweak? Perhaps. But it has sparked frustration, conspiracy theories, and legal concerns across the Tesla community.

When Tesla first introduced FSD in 2016, it came with a bold promise: your car would eventually be able to drive itself completely, with no supervision required. Elon Musk himself hyped it up, telling buyers their Teslas would become fully autonomous and even act as robot taxis, making money while they weren’t using them. Many people believed him and paid up to $15,000 upfront for this dream of autonomous driving.

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But now, it’s 2024, and Tesla has officially changed FSD to “Supervised,” meaning drivers still have to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road.

Some Tesla owners who feel deceived vent their frustrations on Reddit and Tesla-related forums. For example, one user joked they hoped they were “grandfathered into something other than depreciation.” Another user noticed the change in their app, commenting, “They are playing games, and it’s about to blow up in a whole new way.”

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And while some commenters were surprised people thought their Tesla vehicles and the FSD software would do anything but depreciate like any other car, others pointed out Elon Musk himself promised them that “the value of FSD is probably somewhere over $100,000.”

As with everything these days, some conspiracy theories have already surfaced. Users are speculating Tesla is preparing to launch a new “Unsupervised” version of FSD at a much higher price – somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000. 

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Others believe this is part of a legal strategy to avoid lawsuits by changing the language around what FSD offers. A Reddit user sarcastically remarked, “$15K some had paid for this gimmick … boy oooh boyyyy!!”

Another layer to this controversy is Tesla’s hardware. Many Tesla owners have cars equipped with Hardware 3 (HW3), initially marketed as capable of handling full autonomy with just software updates. However, the reality seems different. Some owners are worried their cars won’t ever reach true unsupervised driving and that newer hardware, like HW4 or HW5, might be required. 

Further frustrating early adopters is Tesla’s $99/month FSD subscription offer. Those who paid for the feature up front now feel like they were given a raw deal, especially since Tesla keeps changing the cost and accessibility of FSD.

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