Elon Musk announced early Wednesday that Tesla will eliminate the one-time purchase option for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software beginning in mid-February, transitioning the product to an exclusive monthly subscription.

"Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. FSD will only be available as a monthly subscription thereafter," Musk wrote on X.

The move comes as vehicle sales slow and appears to signal a strategic shift toward recurring revenue, while also aligning with Musk’s new incentive compensation structure, which is tied to scaling FSD subscriptions and hitting key performance milestones.

For Musk to unlock the full value of his massive Tesla compensation plan (valued at $1 trillion), a key milestone is reaching 10 million active FSD subscriptions over a sustained period. That target sits alongside other ambitious goals, including delivering 20 million vehicles, deploying 1 million robotaxis, delivering 1 million humanoid robots, and achieving certain profitability and market-cap thresholds.

X users were divided on FSD's transition to an entirely subscription-based model, similar to that of Chinese automaker BYD Motors.

Add FSD to the mountain of subscriptions, whether that's TV, social media, music, food, dating, fitness, transportation, and the list goes on and on.