On Saturday night, I Received a notice from Tesla that another update for my car’s software was ready. As I always do, I downloaded it and on Easter morning I received a message that I had been granted a 30-day complimentary trial of the company’s full self-driving functionality through April 29. 

This is not a cheap feature; it can be tested for $199 per month or purchased outright for $15,000 (it’s only 7,500 euros on the other side of the pond!), following quick increases by Tesla from $10,000 to $12,000 earlier in 2022. 

On Easter Sunday we went to Salt Lake City to celebrate with my son and his family, and had a chance to test that new self-driving feature on both legs of our trip. We were very, very impressed by its performance (AI is a much better driver than me!) and thought that it would come in handy when we are becoming a tad older and are getting more anxious and far less inclined to drive. 

I was as tense and attentive as if my 16 year old child had done the driving! This said, I’d feel that paying $3,500 or maybe $5,000 might be worth it, but find that the $15,000 Elon Musk wants is simply extortion. 

We’ll see how the month long test goes and will let you know how we feel and what we’ll do about it when it ends...