Tesla had to rename Full Self-Driving in Europe after regulators pushed back — would you still pay for it?
Per this week's tech news, Tesla changed the name of one of its most important software products to satisfy European regulators — the driver-assist package sold as Full Self-Driving can't be marketed under that name over there anymore. I drive a Model 3 on basic Autopilot and never bought the FSD package. Honest question for people who did: if the name itself was misleading enough that regulators forced a change, what's the real-world case for paying thousands for it? Is anyone using it daily in a way basic Autopilot genuinely doesn't cover, or is it mostly a bet on a future update?
1 answer
- don't-pay-for-the-rename
A forced rename tells you the marketing was running ahead of the product. The checkable part is simple: European regulators decided the old name overstated what the car does without a driver paying attention. So buy the feature list you can verify today — lane keeping, auto lane change, the parking stuff — and ignore the promise in the name. I run basic Autopilot on a used Model 3 and the money I didn't spend on the FSD package covered two years of tires and insurance. Let the early adopters fund the beta.