Elon Musk reacts throughout a press occasion with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured), on the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Elon Musk’s fervent promotion of Tesla‘s self-driving expertise is not doing a lot to win over potential consumers.
According to a new survey, more U.S. consumers say that Tesla’s FSD, or Full Self-Driving (Supervised) methods, would push them away from the model somewhat than drawing them to it.
The Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report for August, revealed by political consulting agency Slingshot Strategies, polled 8,000 Americans. Only 14% of these surveyed mentioned FSD would make them more probably to purchase a Tesla, whereas 35% mentioned the expertise would make them much less more likely to buy one.
The remaining 51% mentioned the supply of FSD would make no distinction to them by way of their automotive shopping for choices. Nearly half of consumers surveyed by Slingshot mentioned they assume FSD expertise needs to be unlawful.
For Tesla, the troubling outcomes land in the course of a sales slump ensuing from an getting old lineup of electrical autos and elevated competitors from rivals. There’s additionally reputational harm in response to Musk, his incendiary political rhetoric, work with the Trump administration and assist of Germany’s far-right AfD social gathering.
Sales of Tesla automobiles in Europe plunged 40% in July from a yr earlier, the seventh consecutive month of declines.
In the robotaxi market, Tesla is lagging Alphabet-owned Waymo, and Baidu’s Apollo Go. It’s now within the early phases of testing a ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, and within the San Francisco Bay Area, with hopes to succeed in more cities this yr. Cars in Austin have human supervisors on board, whereas these in San Francisco have drivers on the wheel.
Musk, the world’s richest individual, has mentioned the way forward for Tesla hangs on its means to ship autonomous autos and associated providers. He just lately mentioned a new variant of the Model Y, which launched in China, will not “start production in the U.S. until the end of next year,” and “might not ever, given the advent of self-driving in America.”
For now, Tesla nonetheless depends on EV gross sales for the overwhelming majority of its income, although Musk has touted FSD as one of many firm’s huge benefits over rivals.
Last month, executives steered that Tesla has a market schooling downside in the case of driving adoption of FSD.
“The vast majority of people don’t know it exists,” Musk mentioned on the corporate’s second-quarter earnings name. “And it’s still like half of Tesla owners who could use it, haven’t tried it even once.”
Musk mentioned he would begin telling clients about FSD after they convey their automobiles in for service, and would start reaching out to drivers, sending them movies of the way it works.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja mentioned on the July earnings name that individuals who subscribe to the premium FSD possibility get one thing like a “personal chauffeur” for about $3.33 a day.
The model of FSD Supervised that Tesla sells at the moment is on the market to house owners for $99 per thirty days or an up-front buy. The system provides customers a restricted set of self-driving capabilities on residential and metropolis streets.
On Thursday, Tesla despatched out a promotion providing 0% APR financing for purchasers ordering a brand new Model 3 by Sept. 1, so long as they add FSD Supervised to their order, or switch it from their beforehand owned Tesla.
‘Holding AV producers accountable’
Musk has mentioned in posts on X that FSD can “can operate in all conditions,” will “save lives” and shall be a “life-changing product” for many individuals. He’s additionally shared user-generated movies displaying Tesla house owners utilizing FSD with out their fingers on the wheel.
However, in house owners manuals, Tesla lists many circumstances during which FSD Supervised will not be dependable, and warns customers to maintain their fingers on the steering wheel always, and be able to take over steering or braking.
Among the subset of survey respondents actively seeking to purchase a completely electrical automobile, solely 20% mentioned they had been more probably to purchase a Tesla due to FSD, whereas 33% mentioned they had been much less probably. Evan Roth Smith, Slingshot’s head of analysis, mentioned a scarcity of readability and honesty within the firm’s advertising and marketing could possibly be an element.
Most consumers polled by the agency need clear and robust laws within the U.S. governing autonomous autos, whether or not they’re totally or partially automated.
“There is strong support for holding AV manufacturers responsible for accidents and requiring stricter regulatory and advertising guardrails around features such as FSD,” the Slingshot report mentioned.
Smith mentioned the info reveals that past its FSD woes, Tesla has “the worst reputation of any EV maker in the U.S.”
“The drop in the company’s brand reputation this year is remarkable,” he mentioned, including that latest product legal responsibility lawsuits and verdicts could also be taking part in a task.
In early August, a jury discovered Tesla partially liable for a deadly crash the place the motive force was counting on its autopilot methods. Tesla, which plans to attraction the choice, should pay round $243 million in damages to victims and a survivor.
In the previous two months, the variety of consumers who view Tesla automobiles as unsafe has elevated to 36% from 34%, the Slingshot report discovered, whereas these viewing Tesla as very secure fell to 13% from 17%.
Honda, Toyota and Chevrolet had been seen as most secure among the many best variety of respondents.
Tesla did not reply to a request for remark. Slingshot mentioned it despatched the survey outcomes to the corporate but in addition did not hear again from the automaker.
Tesla could discover that house owners in different markets embrace its model, and FSD, with better enthusiasm. The firm simply began providing FSD Supervised in Australia this week.
Read Slingshot’s full Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report for August 2025 here.
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