Tesla FSD Explained

Autopilot vs FSD: What's the Difference?

Autopilot (Standard -- Free): Every Tesla includes basic Autopilot, which provides traffic-aware cruise control (TACC) and autosteer on highways. It maintains your speed, follows the car ahead, and keeps you centered in your lane. Think of it as advanced cruise control.

Enhanced Autopilot ($6,000): Adds automatic lane changes on highways, Navigate on Autopilot for highway routing, Autopark, and Smart Summon. Available in some regions as a middle tier between basic Autopilot and FSD.

Full Self-Driving ($12,000 or $99/month): Includes all Enhanced Autopilot features plus city street driving with traffic light and stop sign recognition, automatic turns, roundabout handling, and complex intersection navigation. FSD aims to handle any driving scenario from point A to point B.

What FSD Can Do Today

FSD V13.5 (the current version as of early 2026) represents a massive leap in autonomous capability. On city streets, FSD handles traffic lights, stop signs, unprotected left turns, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, and construction zones. On highways, it manages interchanges, lane changes, and exit ramps autonomously.

In February 2026, California granted Tesla Level 4 autonomous certification for FSD V13.5 on state highways -- the first such certification for a consumer vehicle. This means the system is certified for unsupervised operation on California highways, a landmark achievement for the autonomous driving industry.

Important: Despite the Level 4 certification on highways, FSD still requires driver attention on city streets. You must keep your hands on the wheel and remain alert. The system will prompt you to take over if it encounters a situation it cannot handle.

Buy vs Subscribe: Which Is Better?

Purchase ($12,000): Best if you plan to keep your Tesla for 10+ years or drive frequently in FSD-compatible areas. The purchase price transfers with the vehicle if you sell privately (but not through Tesla trade-in). Over a 10-year ownership period, purchasing saves roughly $800/year compared to subscribing.

Subscription ($99/month): Best for trying FSD before committing, seasonal users (activate for road trips, pause for winter), or if you upgrade vehicles frequently. You can activate or cancel monthly with no long-term commitment. The subscription also ensures you always have the latest features.

Our Recommendation: Start with the monthly subscription to experience FSD firsthand. After 2-3 months of regular use, you'll know whether it's worth the full purchase price for your driving habits and routes.

How FSD Improves Over Time

Unlike traditional cars that depreciate and become less capable over time, Tesla vehicles with FSD actually improve through over-the-air software updates. Each update refines the neural networks, adds new capabilities, and improves handling of edge cases.

With over 5 million Tesla vehicles collecting driving data worldwide, the neural networks train on an unmatched dataset. Every mile driven -- even without FSD active -- contributes training data through shadow mode, where the AI silently predicts what it would do and compares to the human driver's actions. This creates a virtuous cycle: more cars mean more data, which means faster improvement.