Tesla Ends Free Autopilot: Why New Canadian Owners Now Face Monthly Fees
Tesla has made a major change to its vehicle lineup in Canada and the United States by officially discontinuing Autopilot as a standard feature.
Moving forward, all new Tesla purchases will come standard only with Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC), which maintains speed and distance but does not steer the car.
For years, Autopilot was a standout feature that allowed Teslas to steer themselves within lanes, a tool many drivers found superior to the lane-keep systems offered by legacy automakers. The first sign of this shift appeared recently with the launch of the new Model Y Standard in Canada. Priced at $49,990, that specific model debuted without Autopilot, offering only TACC. Now, that change has been rolled out across the entire fleet.
Existing inventory available for sale are still showing Autopilot as available. Customers that have Autopilot in their cars now, will likely still keep the feature.
The Move Toward Full Self-Driving
This change appears to be part of a broader push toward Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) ecosystem. While standard lane steering is gone, the online configurator now highlights a $99 CAD monthly FSD subscription. Buyers can still choose to purchase FSD outright for $11,000 CAD, though this buy-it-now option is only available until February 14, 2026.
To help drivers transition, new vehicle purchases still include a 30-day free trial of FSD (Supervised), which is the teaser to get you hooked.
Tesle CEO Elon Musk commented on the change, saying, “I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).”
The Robotaxi Connection
The timing of this decision is tied to a massive milestone for the company. Tesla has officially launched FSD Unsupervised for its Robotaxi fleet, allowing vehicles to operate without human safety monitors for the first time. By removing the basic Autopilot, Tesla is nudging its entire user base toward the more advanced, subscription-based FSD platform.
What happens after the February 14 deadline remains a mystery. Some are wondering if Tesla might lower the subscription price or introduce a new basic tier for highway driving, but for now, the free steering feature that made Tesla famous on road trips is a thing of the past.
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FSD is pretty useless in the Canadian winter, 1/4 of the time, depending on how much snow we get. Don't bother unless you have at least HW4.