Tesla Deploys Grok AI in Europe, Updates FSD Terms
Tesla has begun rolling out its Grok conversational AI to vehicles in Europe via the 2026.2.6 software update. Concurrently, the company introduced new Full Self-Driving (FSD) terms that reserve the right to change the software's price and features at any time, reflecting a shift towards a more dynamic, service-based model.
- Grok is developed by xAI, a separate company founded by Elon Musk, and is designed to provide more current and less filtered responses than some other AI models by accessing real-time data from the X platform. It also features distinct conversational modes, including a "Fun Mode" for more humorous and sarcastic replies. - The AI model integrated into the vehicles, likely an evolution of Grok-1.5, has multimodal capabilities, meaning it can process not just text but also visual information like photos, charts, and documents. This opens up potential future applications beyond conversational queries, such as analyzing the vehicle's surroundings in more complex ways. - The European rollout of Grok follows its initial integration into Tesla vehicles in the United States and is being delivered via the 2026.2.6 software update. However, the version of Full Self-Driving (FSD) in Europe is more limited than its North American counterpart due to stricter UNECE regulations, which can affect functionalities like automatic lane changes. - Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase a lifetime license for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which was last priced at $8,000 in the U.S. The company has shifted to a subscription-only model, currently priced at $99 per month in the United States. - The updated FSD terms now explicitly state that both "price and feature availability" are subject to change at any time. This is a significant shift from the previous, more standard "price and availability subject to change" clause, giving Tesla the flexibility to alter what features are included in the FSD package for subscribers. - As part of its move toward a subscription model, Tesla has also discontinued its basic Autopilot product and moved the "Autosteer" feature (lane-centering) exclusively into the paid FSD subscription tier. - The latest major version of the underlying software, FSD (Supervised) v12, represents a significant architectural shift. It replaces over 300,000 lines of C++ code with a single end-to-end neural network trained on millions of video clips, aiming for more human-like driving behavior. - Historically, the price of the FSD package has fluctuated significantly, peaking at $15,000 in 2022 before being reduced. Elon Musk has stated that the subscription price is expected to rise as the software's capabilities improve and approach "unsupervised" driving.
