--- title: "Tesla Quietly Deletes Claim That Old Teslas Will Be Capable of Self-Driving" description: "Tesla quietly pulled a 2016 blog post in which it promised that \"all Tesla cars being produced\" will have \"Full Self-Driving hardware." date: "2024-08-28" modified: "2024-08-28" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-deletes-self-driving-claim" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "full self-driving" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Quietly Deletes Claim That Old Teslas Will Be Capable of Self-Driving ![Tesla quietly pulled a 2016 blog post in which it promised that "all Tesla cars being produced" will have "Full Self-Driving hardware.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Promises, Promises Over the weekend, Tesla quietly pulled an [October 2016 blog post]() from its website in which it promised that "all Tesla cars being produced" will have "Full Self-Driving hardware." "As always, our over-the-air software updates will keep customers at the forefront of technology and continue to make every Tesla, including those equipped with first-generation Autopilot and earlier cars, more capable over time," the post read. And it's not just that post that has mysteriously vanished from Tesla's website. As [*Electrek* points out](), everything published on the Elon Musk-led company's blog before 2019 appears to have been deleted. "Why would a company delete content from its blog?" one Reddit user [questioned](). "Makes no sense unless it’s trying to hide information, whether it’s the self-driving article or something else." Of course, Tesla's eight-year-old promise has aged like milk. Despite the company's best efforts — and [plenty of chaos]() [caused]() by its controversial $15,000 "Full Self-Driving" software — full autonomy is likely still many years out. Worse yet, the carmaker's reckless approach — of using members of the public to beta test its driver assistance features — has already [resulted in plenty of crashes](), with overzealous drivers being [lulled into a false sense of security]() by the brand's overconfident marketing. ## Free-ish Upgrades Meanwhile, Musk [hinted that it could soon be the end of the road]() for the EV maker's Hardware 3 Autopilot computer. Future development of FSD would require an upgrade, seemingly contradicting the company's 2016 promise. Recent over-the-air FSD updates [have also prioritized vehicles]() with much newer Hardware 4 computers, highlighting concerns that customers relying on Hardware 3 could soon be out of luck. "It takes considerable software effort to optimize the code enough to run on HW3," Musk [tweeted last month](). At first, Tesla [offered free hardware upgrades]() to those who bought the FSD add-on outright. Customers who later opted for a monthly subscription to the software, however, have had to shell out [anywhere between $1,000 and $1,500](). Now that most of the company's older blog posts have been deleted, we don't know where Tesla stands when it comes to its original promise. Has the carmaker given up on claiming that its entire fleet will imminently be capable of full autonomy, regardless of hardware? Is Tesla trying to delete evidence of its promise of free hardware upgrades? It certainly wouldn't be the first time the company has made misleading claims or gone back on its promises. Case in point, its CEO has promised that full self-driving will [become a reality "next year" every year since 2014](). **More on FSD:** *[If You Pay Attention to Tesla's FSD Map on the Dashboard, Crucial Problems Quickly Appear]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()