Is Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” Worth $99/Month?

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I’ve been kind of a techno nerd since I was a teenager. When I was 17 in 1957, I talked my dad into buying a 16mm film Bolex movie camera as well as the cutting and gluing machine to use for editing, for his research lab at the University Wisconsin. Then I proceeded to shoot film of various activities like family Colorado ski trips, Wisconsin University Club (Hoofers) sailing on Lake Mendota, and even a church musical. Then I proceeded to produce and edit movies by shooting film, then cutting and gluing film strips together much like Hollywood had done since the turn of the century. I even laid down a magnetic stripe on the film for the musical and recorded dialog and musical numbers on it.

As a senior scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center starting in 1974, I was the leader in my rather technically backward atmospheric science research branch in using Apple Macs, Apple LaserWriter printers, Adobe Photoshop V1.0, and Microsoft Word 1.0 in putting together short articles for meetings that looked more like they came out of a professional type setting shop rather than made with the crude dot-matrix printers used with most computers those days.

At NASA, we were presented with convincing evidence that global warming was causing the melting of Arctic Ocean sea ice (see illustration below) and the retreat of mountain glaciers all over the world. I’ve been an advocate for all things “green” ever since.

I retired from NASA in 2004. In 2014, a $200/month lease deal for a Nissan Leaf was too good to pass up and I have been an EV evangelist ever since. When I traded in my Nissan Leaf EV for a Tesla Model 3 in the fall of 2019 (the Y was released the next year), I was anxious to experiment with Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD). I financed the Model 3 with a Re-Fi of my house at 3.5% interest and sprung $6,000 for a permanent license to what Tesla was calling Full Self Driving. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to come up with that much money later. Tesla raised the price for the license to $10,000 and then later reduced it to $8,000. A few months ago, Tesla stopped selling the permanent licenses for FSD and now charges everyone $99/month to use it.

In 2019, the only place FSD really provided Full Self Driving was on Interstates and Limited Access Highways. Then, as I experienced multiple bimonthly updates, I lived through Tesla’s development of Full Self Driving (with the moniker Supervised added to avoid lawsuits) on my Model 3 as it became a sophisticated self-driver on all the roads in the US with few exceptions. At one point, we had to take a driving test with the new software to prove that we were worthy (and safe) users. Tesla released updates and improvements to the FSD software in my Model 3 until about 2024. In 2023, Tesla started putting a more powerful computer, better cameras, and a new front facia (bumper) camera on all of their new cars called HW4. Soon after that, Tesla only released significant improvements to FSD for cars with HW4. I was stuck with dead-end FSD V12 and could only look on with envy when I heard the rave reviews that FSD V14 was getting on HW4 cars.

A couple of months ago, I managed to “total” my Model 3. While I was trying to figure out what to do, my insurance company paid for a rental Toyota Corolla to use for about 3 weeks, so I got to observe what another brand was passing off as driving automation. A few weeks ago, I purchased a 2026 Tesla Model Y with HW4 with a free first 30-day subscription to FSD V14.

It means that I have a good understanding of what older Tesla drivers are experiencing with HW3 and FSD V12, what new Tesla drivers are experiencing with HW4 and FSD V14, as well as the limited automation offered by Toyota, one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, on its gas cars.

Tesla offered a lot of technical innovations that no one had seen before not long after the Model X came out in 2015 and the Model 3 came out in 2018. Things like using your phone as a keyfob that would automatically unlock your doors when you approach and lock them automatically when you depart more than ~15 ft from the car. You never have to start your engine or turn it off when you leave. These innovations were sorely missed in our 2026 Toyota Corolla rental. One time I came back to my car to find that I had left the motor running for 30 minutes.

Is Full Self Driving worth $99/month?

I paid $6000 for FSD on my Model 3 that I owned for 78 months. That comes to about $77/month. Drivers who have paid $8,000 for a permanent FSD subscription will need to keep their cars for longer than ~6.5 years to save any money over paying $99/month. This is without figuring in the interest on the money or the effect on resale value. Bottom line: $99/month is not a big departure for most drivers compared to the old permanent subscription model.

I know at least two Model S and Model X owners who paid the price for a permanent subscription to FSD but only used steering assist on superhighways on long trips. Here’s the irony: As of a few months ago, for the first time, Tesla is selling cars without steering assist. If you don’t pay $99/month, you don’t get steering assist. I regard this as a kind of blackmail by Tesla — you only get the most common driving automation (my little Toyota Corolla had it) if you pay $99/month. The one mitigating factor: If you seldom take long trips where you would need it, you only have to pay $99 when you are on your trip.

We are blown away by the performance of Full Self Driving V14 on our 2026 Model Y. V14 raises driving automation to a new level. If I am patient and willing to let V14 to take a little longer at stop signs than I would do manually, I can sit there not touching the brake, accelerator, or steering wheel while I let FSD V14 drive me like an excellent chauffeur. It lets me drive at any rate I choose between Sloth, Chill, Standard, Hurry, and Mad Max. Standard is the rate you choose if you are a safety conscious person intending to avoid speeding tickets. The car drives with precision and almost never makes a decision that I choose to override. However, it does occasionally make mistakes, so you still have to “supervise” it. It will rarely make a navigation mistake, but if it does, it will still find a way to your destination. I understand that it still occasionally makes lane selection errors at stop lights, but I don’t get to test this here in Northern Wisconsin. V14 anticipates pedestrians who are about to use a crosswalk and waits for them to cross. V14 also slows and brakes for deer crossing the road.

For the first time, Tesla’s automation handles that beginning and end of the trip. It backs out of my garage just far enough to clear my driveway perfectly. It will also automatically back into (when needed) a parking place at a big box store or back into a Tesla Supercharger. I hate parking and backing in because I am never sure exactly how much clearance I have and how far to drive into a parking place. However, it has trouble doing this with a bike rack in the receiver in back.

On the road, FSD V14 handles every situation automatically perfectly for me at the correct speed and with precision no matter whether there are lines on the road or not, or how tight the turn.

The end of the trip is more difficult than the beginning. It won’t park in your garage yet and will often park in a place at a big box store where you need to walk farther than you would if you were parking yourself.

Bottom line: Is FSD V14 worth $99/month?

If you love to drive your car yourself, maybe not. If you are a techno-nerd like me who wants to participate first hand in one of the most important artificial intelligence experiments being conducted today, definitely yes! If you want to reduce the stress of driving, especially on long trips, definitely yes! If you have a handicap like Parkinson’s Disease, definitely yes! To be sure, you need to buy a Tesla with HW4 purchased sometime in 2023 or later and conduct the experiment yourself.

If Tesla ever achieves true L4 driving automation, will it raise the price of FSD substantially over the $99/month it charges now?

If you find any of my articles helpful to you, please use my referral link when buying a new Tesla: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (be sure to use it when you make your order).

Tesla keeps changing the program but here’s the latest: If you are buying a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you will get 2 months of free Full Self Driving (a ~$200 value) on top of the one month that comes free with every new Tesla. For a Cybertruck, you will get $1,000 off your purchase price.