The price of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software will rise to $15,000, the electric car maker's chief executive, Elon Musk, has said.
The world's richest person tweeted on Sunday night that price would increase from $12,000 in North America from September 5 after the release of version FSD Beta 10.69.2 for its driver assistance system.
Mr Musk said the current price would be honoured for orders made before September 5 but delivered later.
“FSD Beta 10.69 started rolling out to Tesla owners last night,” he tweeted. “This build is a big step forward! 10.69.1 probably end of week with wider release. 10.69.2 in a few weeks should be good enough to provide to all FSD Beta participants.”
FSD is also available on subscription for $199 a month but Mr Musk did not mention any alteration to the cost of that. It was also not stated whether the price rises would be across global markets.
This is the second FSD price rise this year, after it increased from $10,000 to $12,000 in January.
The current FSD offers auto lane changes, navigation on autopilot, autopark and smart summon, whereby the driver can use their phone to call the car and have it drive itself to their location without a driver.
Traffic light and stop-sign control allows the car to detect and react to traffic signals. Autosteer on city streets is “coming soon”, Tesla's website says.
Despite the advancements in technology, Tesla's FSD does not make its cars fully autonomous.
“The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” Tesla said on its website.
“The activation and use of these features are dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of miles of experience, as well as regulatory approval, which may take longer in some jurisdictions.”
Tesla's FSD has sparked safety concerns and scrutiny from regulators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating a number of accidents in which it suspects Tesla's autopilot was being used.
Since 2016, the NHTSA has sent teams to 39 crashes in which self-driving systems are suspected of having been in use, according to agency documents. Of those, 30 involved Teslas, including crashes that caused 19 deaths.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the NHTSA was investigating more than 750 complaints about Teslas braking for no reason.
Last week, a BMW test car with autonomous-steering capability swerved out of its lane into oncoming traffic, killing one person and seriously injuring nine in Germany.
“The vehicle has a level 2 driving assistance system that is already incorporated in production vehicles today and which can support the driver on demand,” BMW said.
“With level 2 vehicles, the driver always retains responsibility.”
Elon Musk's 2022 — in pictures
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Tesla chief Elon Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin meet Pope Francis in July at the Vatican. AFP -
Mr Musk speaks by video in June to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Bloomberg -
Mr Musk answers questions at the Qatar Economic Forum. Bloomberg -
Mr Musk arrives at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May. Reuters -
Mr Musk and his mother Maye Musk arrive at the Met Gala in May. AFP -
The Musks pose and laugh on the Met Gala red carpet. EPA -
Mr Musk waves at the Met Gala. Reuters -
Mr Musk joins in online at the 'Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit in May. Financial Times -
Mr Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, in March. Reuters -
Mr Musk at the Tesla factory in Berlin, Germany, in March. AP -
Mr Musk speaks at SpaceX's Starbase centre in South Texas in February. AFP -
The entrepreneur shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Porto Feliz, Brazil, in May. AP -
Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Musk greet each other in Sao Paulo. Reuters -
Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets Mr Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in May. Reuters -
Mr Musk shows Mr Widodo his mobile phone during a tour of the SpaceX launch site in Texas. Reuters
