It isn’t as powerful as the company’s Full Self-Driving feature, but Tesla’s Autopilot has been a mainstay for various Tesla models over the years. That’s all changed in 2026, though; instead, the automaker has effectively eliminated this feature for new Model 3 and Model Y purchases. Specifically, as Rob Stumpf of Inside EVs points out, Tesla has phased out the Autosteer component of Autopilot while leaving Traffic Aware Cruise Control in place.
What is the thinking behind this? Most analyses of the move indicate that it was designed to drive (no pun intended) more Tesla customers to pay for Full Self-Driving. In an article on the changes, Electrek’s Fred Lambert writes that Full Self-Driving will henceforth be the way that drivers can “access lane-keeping capabilities that were previously free.”
Currently, Full Self-Driving will cost drivers $99 per month. (Tesla is also phasing out the ability to pay for Full Self-Driving in one lump sum, a change that will go into effect in February.) That monthly subscription fee may increase, however. On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a post on X discussing the changes to Autopilot.
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It’s part of a larger debate over design and safety“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve,” Musk wrote. “The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).” As for when Tesla drivers can nod off behind the wheel, entrusting their safe arrival to software — well, Musk addressed that subject earlier this month as well.
“Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving,” Musk wrote. “Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” When might we see that? According to CleanTechnica’s reporting, Tesla is currently at just over 7 billion miles of training data. One assumes regulators will also have something to say about the matter once Tesla has reached that benchmark.
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