Tesla Reports 1.74M Full Self-Driving Subscriptions, Including One-Time Purchases

Tesla’s latest quarterly results, released on October 21, 2026, included a significant update on its Full Self-Driving software adoption. According to the company’s shareholder letter, the number of active Full Self-Driving subscriptions has grown to 1.74 million. This figure represents a 67% increase compared to one year ago. However, the way this total is calculated is key to understanding the number.

A footnote in the document clarifies that this metric follows the standards set by its “2025 CEO Performance Award” and includes both one-time purchases and monthly subscriptions. This means that customers who bought Full Self-Driving outright in the past, sometimes for as much as $15,000, are counted in this total as long as their vehicle remains active. This method is used because the company’s CEO has a performance milestone tied to reaching 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions. It is also important to note that a significant portion of these users were promised unsupervised self-driving capabilities that the company has not yet delivered.

Tesla stopped offering Full Self-Driving as a one-time purchase on February 14, 2026. Since then, new customers can only access the feature through a monthly subscription, which costs $99 in the United States. Anyone who paid for a license before that date remains in the active subscription count. The only exception is for free trials, which are not included in the 1.74 million figure. The company has not disclosed how many of these individuals are actually paying on a recurring monthly basis.

This same counting method is also used for another figure in the shareholder letter. The company’s “cumulative deliveries” metric, which stands at 10.2 million, includes any unsupervised Robotaxis placed into commercial operation. This approach is also aligned with the CEO’s performance award, which has a milestone of 20 million vehicles delivered.

In addition to the subscription total, the letter states that over 75% of new vehicle deliveries in North America during the third quarter included Full Self-Driving subscriptions. This represents a nearly twenty percentage point increase from the prior quarter. The company did not specify whether this figure includes subscriptions started with an introductory offer or how many of those customers continue to pay for the service after a few months.

Reaching the 10 million subscription target for the CEO’s 2025 performance award would require a significant increase in the current pace. The award is structured around 12 tranches, each with a market cap milestone and an operational one. The operational list includes 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions, 20 million vehicles delivered, 1 million Optimus robots, 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation, and adjusted EBITDA targets. As of June 30, 2026, the company considered only the 20 million deliveries milestone to be probable.

Tesla added 260,000 net Full Self-Driving subscriptions in the third quarter, its strongest quarter to date. At this rate, reaching 10 million would take about eight years. At the pace of the last 12 months, which added approximately 700,000 subscriptions, it would take closer to 12 years. The performance award runs until 2035.