According to Sawyer Merritt, Tesla's move to discontinue the purchase option for Full Self-Driving (FSD) and focus solely on FSD subscriptions has major implications for AI adoption and business models in the automotive sector (source: Sawyer Merritt on Twitter, Jan 14, 2026). By shifting to subscriptions, Tesla addresses hardware upgrade concerns, aligns with Elon Musk's 2025 CEO Performance Award milestone of 10 million FSD subscriptions, and creates a predictable, recurring revenue stream. This transition supports AI-driven autonomous vehicle deployment at scale and could lower entry barriers by removing FSD from high-end packages like the Model S/X and Cybertruck. The change also opens the door for tiered AI-based FSD subscription offerings, such as an affordable 'FSD Light,' enabling greater market penetration and data collection for AI training. Notably, the subscription model enhances long-term customer engagement with AI-powered services and positions Tesla to rapidly iterate and deploy software updates based on real-world driving data, presenting significant business opportunities in the AI mobility sector (source: Sawyer Merritt, Twitter).