Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite may attract a lot of skepticism from critics, but the fact remains that it is one of the most advanced driver-assist systems available for consumers today. With the rollout of FSD (Supervised), Tesla has effectively brought supervised assisted driving to inner-city streets. And in a recent post on X, CEO Elon Musk reiterated his willingness to license FSD to other carmakers.
Driver-assist systems are widely available today. One would only need to see the critical media coverage on Tesla Autopilot to see that other prominent driver-assist systems are offered by automakers like Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz. Such systems, however, tend to have numerous limitations. They also tend to only be available on freeways.
And we will license the tech to other car companies
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2024
The story is much more different in inner-city streets. In such locations, Tesla FSD (Supervised) competes only with sophisticated autonomous driving solutions from companies like Waymo and Cruise. Provided that Tesla could further refine FSD (Supervised) to such a degree that it is unequivocally safer than an average human driver in both freeways and inner-city streets, the system would likely be a no-brainer for other automakers.
The car industry is extremely competitive, after all, so features like FSD (Supervised) could potentially become a competitive advantage.
Tesla would be happy to do such deals
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2024
Elon Musk actually responded positively to a proposed FSD licensing model pondered by longtime FSD Beta tester @WholeMarsBlog. As per the Tesla owner, FSD licensing could involve Tesla allowing an OEM to integrate the system into any car for free or at cost, but buyers would pay for the license to use the system. The Tesla owner also suggested that by opting into FSD, drivers could enjoy access to Tesla’s active safety and basic features, as well as lower Supercharger rates.
In a post on X, Musk noted that “Tesla would be happy to do such deals.” Musk also responded positively to the idea that Tesla’s earnings from its FSD licensing deals would eventually exceed the company’s business earnings. “Good chance that turns out to be true,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
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