If you wanted a bargain on a Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) premium driver assistance program—well, you’re a few years behind. In 2019, it was possible to buy the FSD for a mere pittance: just $5,000. That price went up to $12,000 in 2022, and then, as of September of the same year, it has reached $15,000. What do drivers get for all that money? Not enough, according to one publication, which advised against purchasing “what is basically just access to unfinished, work-in-progress software.” The FSD package is neither full nor self-driving. In turn, a class action lawsuit brought against Tesla accuses it of false advertising, to that very point. The features—like Navigate, which helps drivers get on and off the highway, and Smart Summon, which is supposed to let people perform some partial operations of their vehicles through their phones—are intriguing and promising but also, according to consumer complaints, flawed and accident-prone. Furthermore, drivers have another option available to them: Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot system does just slightly less—it even has the Smart Summon feature—at a cost of only $6,000.

Sources: Kevin Armstrong, “Tesla FSD Cost and Price Increase History,” not a tesla app, September 9 2022; Matt McFarland, “Tesla Raises Price of Feature It Calls ‘Full Self-Driving’ to $15,000,” CNN Business, August 22, 2022; Lora Kolodny, “Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Hike the Price of FSD Driver Assistance Software by 25% in September,” CNBC, August 21, 2022; Andrei Nedelea, “Tesla Full Self-Driving Price Officially Increased to $15,000,” InsideEVs, September 6, 2022; Rebecca Bellan, “Drivers Sue Tesla for Alleged False Advertising of Autopilot and FSD Software,” TechCrunch, September 15, 2022; Fred Lambert, “Tesla Relaunches $6,000 Enhanced Autopilot–Gutting Full Self-Driving Package in the Process,” electrek, June 24, 2022