Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company will offer a free one month trial of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software to all owners who haven’t purchased the option, first in North America and later to other markets. Musk revealed the news on Twitter when responding to a question about when the FSD subscription model will be available to Canadians, and the offer comes with a bit of caveat.
According to Musk, the one month trial will only be offered once FSD Beta is “super smooth.” Since that is a fairly subjective and personal thing to measure, there is no way to fairly estimate when this offer will come to fruition, but Musk later went on to explain why it was necessary.
Tesla owner and FSD Beta tester Dirty Tesla shared on Twitter that the current version of FSD Beta is much smoother than it used to be, noting the offer of a trial would be a great idea. Musk replied explaining that smoothness is something that the software must be capable of for new users to be comfortable in using the software, presumably because if they aren’t then the chances of them following through and purchasing the software are essentially slim to none.
Musk also explained that smoothness is not Tesla’s highest priority when it comes to developing FSD Beta, instead saying that safety is prioritized and that once safety is at an acceptable level, only then will Tesla “polish the experience.”
As for the original question to which Musk was replying about when an FSD subscription option would be available in Canada, he unfortunately provided no answer. Many Canadians have been asking for the subscription, which has been available in the US since mid-2021 for $199 per month, especially because FSD Beta is essentially unusable for the better part of a half of the year in many parts of the country. Then there’s also the high price, which is currently $19,500, before taxes.
We always prioritize safety over smoothness. After we achieve a higher tier of safety, then we polish the experience.
Very important to both both safe and smooth for new users to be comfortable with FSD.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023
