Infographic: Tesla's recent changes to its Autopilot feature availability

Guest post: Blane Erwin, Current Automotive

Tesla dropped a bit of a bombshell yesterday, announcing the introduction of the Standard Range Model 3, a number of price and feature changes, and the transition to online sales only along with the closure of its retail stores.

Above: Tesla's Model 3 (Instagram: Current Automotive)

Autopilot features have changed as a result of the announcement. Enhanced Autopilot is no longer available as an option, instead replaced with two options: Autopilot and Full Self Driving Capability.

The prices and available features have been adjusted as well. Enhanced Autopilot offered Adaptive Cruise Control, Autosteer, Summon, Autopark, and Navigate on Autopilot for a price of $5,000 before delivery ($7,000 post-delivery). The new Autopilot option only includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Autosteer, and is priced at $3,000.

Drivers who want Summon, Autopark, and Navigate on Autopilot will need to opt for the new Full Self Driving Capability option for an additional $5,000. That cost also includes the planned, but not yet released, stop sign and traffic light recognition, automatic driving on city streets. Keep in mind that local and federal regulations may delay the availability of these last two features.

Only the new Full Self Driving Capability option offers feature parity with the previously released version of Enhanced Autopilot, with the exception of the upcoming stop sign and traffic light recognition. The following table breaks down what features are available for each version of the software. Please note that the three functions with an asterisk are not yet available.

Above: Looking at the evolving feature availability of Tesla's Autopilot from October 2014 to present (Source: Current Automotive)

Essentially, Tesla repackaged the two most desirable Autopilot features, Adaptive Cruise Control and Autosteer, to create an entry-level version of the software for $3,000. This allowed them to add extra value to the Full Self Driving Capability option by including Summon, Autopark, and Navigate on Autopilot features. Previously, customers opting for the off-menu Full Self Driving option were paying for access to software capabilities that didn’t exist yet. Now, those customers get a combination of both currently available features and ones promised for the future.

These price and feature availability changes do affect cars that were delivered before February 27, 2019, if they didn’t have Enhanced Autopilot. As an example, to upgrade an early 2018 Model 3 that does not currently have Enhanced Autopilot active now would cost $11,000 to get the same features of Enhanced Autopilot before February 27, 2019, but will also receive the additional Full Self Driving features. Take a look at this screenshot for the upgrade options on vehicles without Enhanced Autopilot:

Above: Screenshot from Tesla (Image: Current Automotive via Tesla)

Of course, Tesla can’t remove functionality from a car that was already sold. Cars delivered with Autopilot 1 or Enhanced Autopilot before February 27, 2019 will continue to retain Autosteer, Autopark, Summon and Adaptive Cruise Control. Additionally, vehicles equipped with Enhanced Autopilot will continue to have Navigate on Autopilot.

Teslas with Autopilot 1 do not have the hardware necessary for Full Self Driving functionality. As such, they don’t have the option to upgrade.

This is good news for consumers who want Autopilot predominantly for the Adaptive Cruise Control and Autosteer functions – as it’s now offered at a big discount. On the other hand, Autopark and Summon were previously staple Autopilot features, available since day one of the software. Consumers after those functions who don’t care for the Full Self Driving functions should seek vehicles equipped with Autopilot v1, or Enhanced Autopilot on the used market.

Update March 7, 2019: Tesla has pushed out reduced pricing of Autopilot and Full Self Driving for owners who purchased cars, used or new, before February 28, 2019. Autopilot is $2000 and Full Self Driving is $3000. We’re unsure if these prices will follow the vehicles delivered before February 28 themselves, or if they only apply to the current owners of those cars. This post will be updated further as more is known.

===

*Source: Current Automotive; Editor's Note: Current Automotive is the first-ever U.S. car retailer focused exclusively on used electric cars launched by two former Tesla employees.