Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta is now available to all those customers in North America who paid for this feature. The FSD Beta feature, priced at $15,000, was earlier available to Tesla owners with a high safety score.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option.”
During the Q3 conference call, Musk stated that the company expects a “wide release” of FSD Beta in the fourth quarter. The CEO further added that the safety for a car in the FSD mode is “actually significantly greater” than what the company observed in a car that is not on FSD. Further, Musk suggested that the FSD software might not gain regulatory approval to operate without a driver in 2022.
Note that Tesla’s FSD is not completely autonomous yet. The company’s website suggests that the currently enabled features require a fully attentive driver, who should be alert to take over at any moment.
The North America-wide launch of the FSD feature comes at a time when Tesla is facing an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over claims made by the company about the Autopilot system in its EVs.
Is Tesla Stock a Buy?
Tesla earns Wall Street’s Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 19 Buys, eight Holds, and two Sells. The average Tesla stock price target of $310.27 implies 69.3% upside potential. Shares are down 48% so far in 2022.
