Tesla removes from his cars the unnecessary addition "Full Self-Driving"

Image: ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images

For years, Elon Musk has been touting the promise of an autonomous car. Well, it seems that this promise is a little farther than Musk thought before, if it materializes at all.

On Thursday, Elon Musk unveiled a new Tesla Model 3 "low-cost, mid-range" car, which is expected to cost around $ 45,000. At the same time, an eagle-eyed Twitter user noticed another update at Tesla: the optional "Full Self-Driving" feature was gone.

According to Musk's response in his tweet, the option is still available to Tesla customers who like it, but the company will not release it because it "caused too much confusion."

The "Auto-complete driving" option was available as an add-on since 2016. Tesla customers were paying for a feature that they could not currently use. A disclosure on Tesla's website informed buyers that what they were paying for was the hardware necessary for the future operation of the "Full Self-Driving" technology.

In addition to Tesla's core purchase, this addition cost $ 3,000 for the future "Fully Autonomous Driving" option, which adds to the $ 5,000 upgrade for "Autopilot" improved, "which, according to the company, is needed for the automatic driving feature. . That's thousands of dollars of additional costs for nothing but the promise of Elon Musk. And if you decide to upgrade all of this later, by the way, it will cost you $ 1,000 more.

In 2016, Elon Musk had said to expect a fully autonomous Tesla car from here. A report claiming that at the time, more than 35,000 Tesla owners had chosen to pay the additional costs associated with the "self-driving" option.

Tesla has been criticized and rejected by this option for some time. In 2016, the call of the function "Autopilot" was a false and misleading advertisement. The German Transport Minister urged Tesla to stop using this term in its advertisements. Last week, 71% of drivers have the false belief that they can go out and buy a fully autonomous car today.

Currently, potential buyers of Tesla who wish to pay thousands of additional dollars for a "self-driving" feature that they can not currently use will need to specifically request it. If you do, they will still be obligated and will let you pay extra for the currently useless add-on. Now this is a promise from Elon Musk.