Dear Tesla Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for February 14

Elon Musk has a tendency to be “creative” with numbers when it comes to Tesla (TSLA), a stock that arguably has the biggest cult-like following for any company. He just announced a major change in the way people buy Full Self-Driving (FSD). Buyers will soon have to pay a monthly subscription fee of $99 as opposed to the prior one-time $8,000 fee. The change will come into effect on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, a cheeky selection for Tesla to turn its relationship with customers on its head! Customers who already paid the $8,000 fee can continue with their lifetime access the same way as before.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system can handle lane changes, traffic signals, and obstacles without any input from the driver. However, it isn’t a fully autonomous system and still requires human supervision. Tesla’s long-term plans include autonomy, which would be added in the form of software upgrades to the existing FSD software. If there is any company that can achieve that, it is Tesla, thanks to the vast amount of data its cars collect every single day. Once that autonomy is reached, the value generation could go way beyond just numbers, as it would have implications in many other industries through robotics and automation.