Tesla says it has 1.1 million Full Self-Driving subscribers. It's key to Tesla's future thesis, but controversies aren't slowing down.
In its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings report, Tesla announced that it has 1.1 million active subscriptions of Full Self-Driving . Driving FSD subscriptions is a key component of CEO Elon Musk's trillion-dollar compensation package.
But the camera-and-AI-based automated driving system is the subject of multiple investigations, complaints and even lawsuits. In order to secure his unprecedented $1 trillion pay package, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has to hit some aggressive milestones. One of those is selling 10 million subscriptions to Full Self-Driving , Tesla's hands-free automated driving assistance system. If the numbers in Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings update are accurate, then Musk is more than one-tenth of the way there. The electric automaker—which is attempting to pivot to a robotics, energy and artificial intelligence company—boasted that it had 1.1 million active FSD subscriptions by the end of 2025. That number represents a 38% increase from about 800,000 subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2024. It is the first time Tesla has officially disclosed the total number of FSD subscriptions. It's not immediately clear how that tracks with the total number of FSD-capable Teslas sold to date; according to the International Council on Clean Transportation, over 7 million EVs were sold in the U.S. between 2015 and Sept. 2025, and most of those have been Teslas, although the company's EV market share has dwindled in recent years. The result also means that Tesla has nearly twice as many FSD subscribers as General Motors does for Super Cruise, its hands-free automated driving system. And in the view of Musk and his executives, selling FSD subscriptions is even more important than selling EVs, because 'the future is autonomous,' as the CEO said. Tesla FSD Photo by: Tesla A version of the FSD software is used in Tesla's Robotaxi service, which recently started operating without human safety minders in Austin. Musk said the service is expected to expand to several other cities in 2026, including Dallas, Phoenix and Miami. 'This new autonomous market, you have to start thinking about us as providing transportation as a service, more than the total... market for vehicles alone,' said Tesla engineering VP Lars Moravy on the earnings call. Musk added that he sees 'the vast majority of miles traveled will be autonomous in the future.' Like GM, Tesla sees FSD subscriptions—the service costs $99 per month and was recently discontinued as a one-time purchase—as a key driver of future revenue. Even so, Tesla's bullish approach to autonomy has drawn considerable controversy for a number of safety mishaps. In October, U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into nearly 3 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD over more than 50 reports of crashes and traffic law violations. In California, Tesla's largest market, a judge ruled in December that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing by overstating the capabilities of both FSD and Autopilot for years. It recently dropped the latter name from its suite of standard driver-assistance features. The automaker faces a number of lawsuits over FSD as well. Nonetheless, Tesla officials seem undaunted about the future being driven by autonomous driving, not making new cars. 'We're starting not the next chapter, but a new book on the progression of this company,' said Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's CFO. '2026 will be when all of this began. While at times it feels daunting, it will be the most exciting change in Tesla's history.' Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com More FSD News Tesla FSD Super Users Can Now Get Half-Price Car Insurance Tesla Will Stop Selling Full Self-Driving As A One-Time Package Next Month I Got A Sneak Peek At Rivian's Answer To Tesla Full Self-Driving Tesla Removes Autosteer From All Model 3 And Model Y Trims
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Driving You Crazy: Who's responsible for cleaning up a collision scene on the highways?Jayson Luber is a Denver7 Traffic Anchor, Reporter, and Forecaster.
Read more »
HIP-3 Explosion: The Feature Driving HYPE’s Double-Digit SurgeHYPE reclaims key level after 23% rally, trading at $28 as HIP-3 open interest hits $790M and whales remove supply from exchanges.
Read more »
Tesla Fans Furious as Elon Musk Turns Features like ‘Full Self Driving’ into SubscriptionsSource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
2026 Farmers Insurance Open Best Bets: It Takes More Than Driving Distance to WinTorrey Pines South is traditionally a tough course, which shakes up the stats that matter when wagering on this event.
Read more »
Wisconsin driver ticketed in fatal 2024 crash on Tri-State had history of drunk driving offensesThe crash on June 7, 2024, killed 76-year-old Bernice Pawilan. The driver had a history of traffic offenses, and, in fact, wasn't supposed to be on the road at all.
Read more »
Self-driving truck startup Waabi is teaming up with Uber on robotaxisWaabi, a Toronto-based self-driving truck company, is teaming up with Uber to deploy 25,000 robotaxis.
Read more »