Month: October 2020

Enlarge / Interior of Tesla's Model 3. (credit: Tesla)

Tesla is wasting no time cashing in on excitement over the company's forthcoming "full self-driving" software release, which was released in beta form to a small number of customers last week. Tesla has now raised the price of the FSD upgrade from $8,000 to $10,000.

Tesla has tinkered with pricing for the full self-driving package repeatedly over the last two years. In 2018, the package cost $3,000 at vehicle purchase time or $4,000 when purchased later. In 2019, Tesla briefly cut the price to $2,000, angering customers who had paid higher prices. Then Tesla revamped its price structure, making basic Autopilot features standard and raising the FSD package price to $5,000. Tesla subsequently raised the price to $6,000, $7,000, and then $8,000.

Musk has long warned customers to expect the price of the full self-driving technology to continue rising. "If you buy a Tesla today, I believe you are buying an appreciating asset—not a depreciating asset," Musk said in a 2019 podcast episode.

Enlarge / Some 250 Covid-19 isolation bays stand at the ready at the Austin Convention Center on August 07, 2020 in Austin, Texas. The cavernous facility was prepared for use as a field hospital for Covid-19 patients. (credit: Getty | John Moore)

The United States recorded nearly 90,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday, the largest single-day total yet in the pandemic.

The record-breaking day comes amid a steady and sharp climb in US cases. The country is experiencing the third and highest peak in cases, and it’s unclear how high the numbers will go. Today may well be another record-breaking day. The country’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases is now over 76,000, another record in the pandemic.

With more than 88,400 cases Thursday, the US is expected to easily surpass 9 million cases total Friday. Deaths are likely to near 30,000.