Tesla Pulls "Full Self-Driving" From Its Menu

Along with the addition of a $46,200 base price Tesla Model 3 this week, the company also pulled "Full Self-Driving" off the "menu" it uses for vehicle configuration. The options for customers who are ordering cars now is becoming confusing. In part, because some of what Tesla offers on its website is actually just a preparation for future features. No automaker in America, Tesla included, currently has a full self-driving vehicle on sale or on the road in private hands. An example of the confusion was illustrated well by this exchange between Elon Musk and Fred Lambert. Lambert is the owner and primary writer at Elektrek, an EV-advocacy publication.

The change to the offering came this week with the launch of the new mid-range, $46,200 Model 3 trim. Don't confuse this with an affordable Model 3. We added just two options, Autopilot and red paint and the cost came to $53,700.

Musk took to Twitter to clarify (sort of) the full self-driving menu deletion with this below tweet:

Also available off menu for a week. Was causing too much confusion.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2018

The Verge sees this move as Tesla trying to correct a deceptive marketing practice, or something along those lines. It quoted Rob Enderle, a technology analyst for the Enderle Group, who sees Tesla's marketing as confusing, possibly purposefully so. He said, “This should be binary, release a system that works or don’t, don’t release a system that doesn’t work and make it hard to order,” he says. “That just seems incredibly stupid.”