Tesla is splitting its self-driving function into two tiers -- Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability -- and charging a few thousand extra dollars for Navigate on Autopilot, Autopark, Summon and other features coming out later this year. If you buy a new Model S, Model X or Model 3 today, it's $3,000 to add Autopilot and $5,000 for Full Self-Driving Capabilities. The manufacturer says Autopilot "enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically for other vehicles and pedestrians within its lane." Meanwhile, FSD includes the ability to have your car find you anywhere in a parking lot (Summon), park on its own (Autopark), and adds the company's most robust self-driving features (Navigate on Autopilot). Later this year, Tesla expects to introduce the ability to recognize and respond to stop signs and traffic lights, and auto-navigate city streets.

Elon Musk is no stranger to bold predictions, and on Tuesday, he lobbed another one at self-driving tech doubters: The Tesla CEO said the electric carmaker's full self-driving feature will be completed by the end of 2019. And by the end of 2020, he added, it will be so capable, you'll be able to snooze in the driver seat while it takes you from your parking lot to wherever you're going. "I think we will be'feature complete' on full self-driving this year, meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up, take you all the way to your destination without an intervention this year," Musk said during a podcast interview with the money management firm ARK Invest, which is a Tesla investor. "I am certain of that. That is not a question mark."

Tesla plans to slash its workforce by nearly one-tenth as the electric car manufacturer faces rising pressure to achieve profitability. CEO Elon Musk wrote in an internal email that the nine per cent staff reduction was in part a matter of cutting redundant roles. But he also acknowledged cash-flow issues that have raised eyebrows on Wall Street. "Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us", Mr Musk wrote. "What drives us is out mission to accelerate the world transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable".

Tesla's cars will in August suddenly activate "full self-driving features," the company's chief executive Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday, three days after federal investigators said a Tesla SUV driving semi-autonomously had accelerated over 70 mph and smashed into a highway barrier. Musk's promotion to his millions of followers -- that the fantastic future of self-driving cars might only be a few months away -- appeared to give the company a leg-up in the auto industry's most competitive technological race. Tesla's stock price jumped Monday by more than 4.5 percent. A Tesla spokesperson on Monday said the cars would only start offering a limited number of as-yet-undisclosed features, not full autonomy itself. But safety experts worried the grand promises of full self-driving capabilities could lull drivers into a false sense of security for technologies that are still largely unproven on the road.

The next major Tesla software update will give all versions of the electric car "full self-driving features," chief executve Elon Musk has announced. In response to comments on Twitter from Tesla owners about suggested features, Mr Musk said the update would fix issues with the system understanding lane merging and go even further. "That issue is better in latest autopilot software rolling out now and fully fixed in August update as part of our long-awaited Tesla Version Nine," Mr Musk said. "To date, autopilot resources have rightly focused entirely on safety. With V9, we will begin to enable full self-driving features."

Tesla has been promising true self-driving features in its cars for the better part of two years, but there has been precious little to show for it. Now, though, you might get what you paid for. Elon Musk has revealed that Autopilot version 9 should arrive in August, and Tesla will "begin to enable" the full autonomous driving features with that release. The company has "rightly focused entirely on safety" with previous versions, Musk said, but now it's time to spread its wings. This doesn't guarantee that your Tesla will be a self-driving car, so you may want to forego dreams of your Model 3 traveling coast-to-coast by itself. However, the "full self-driving capability" package should actually mean something once Autopilot 9 arrives and the more advanced features kick in.