Elon Musk finally makes admission about Tesla that backtracks on decade long 'promise'

Tesla customers have been left frustrated after a recent admission from CEO Elon Musk, as he revealed that the company won't be able to fulfil a decade-long 'promise' that has been pushed back for years.

Despite reports of a sales decline for the first time in nearly a decade, indications of operational revenue losses, and a drop in consumer 'value', Tesla still remains the most valuable car company in the world and among some of the biggest names in business full stop.

Elon Musk, having won the title of 'founder' in a bitter court case, has catapulted the electric vehicle company into a force to be reckoned with, becoming the go-to brand when most think of EVs despite numerous recalls and the disappointing Cybertruck launch.

However, many Tesla owners have been left feeling frustrated and let down after the company's latest earnings call, as Musk made an admission that breaks what many considered to be a decade-long promise from the company.

Full Self Driving has been one of the major selling points for Tesla, yet it might not be coming for many users (Mark Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Full Self Driving, otherwise known as FSD, has been the technology driving many consumer's interest in Tesla as a company for years, and despite having sold it as both a package and a subscription service, it has largely been unavailable to most owners.

Many buyers have bought cars with expensive hardware on the promise that they'd have FSD in the future, but as reported by The Byte, this might not actually be the case.

"The truth is that we're gonna have to upgrade people's Hardware 3 [computers] for those who have bought Full Self Driving," Musk outlined in the Q4 2024 earnings call, indicating that FSD wouldn't be coming to anyone with HW3 self-driving tech inside their car.

He added that he was "kind of glad that not many people bought the FSD package," as he shortly revealed that the company would upgrade anyone who did such a thing for free - which will cost the company a lot of money in the process.

What shocked many about this revelation was that it came as an interruption to Autopilot and AI head Ashok Elluswamy's point, where he outlined that Tesla hadn't yet given up on HW3.

Many owners across social media have vented their anger as this revelation, with one user remarking that the company is "open to litigation from all the Tesla owners that were blatantly lied to about their vehicles being FSD capable and aren't eligible for the replacement."

Many aren't convinced by Tesla's FSD promises after years of waiting (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

Another added that "Elon should teach a master class on moving goal posts: 'HW3 is enough! HW4 for sure! HW5 incoming!"

This also hasn't exactly gone down well alongside news that Austin, Texas will soon be receiving fully unsupervised FSD, as many have pointed out the contrast in the two announcements from the company.

One argues that "we are about at year 10 of Elon saying it's coming this year," whereas another points out that "people will still believe his BS and when the June passes they will say 'oh self driving is hard, just wait it'll be out soon'."

From this you'd find it not hard to believe that some are growing tired of the Tesla experience with their patience for long-promised features fading away, but the company remains strong on the market - especially after the US election last year that saw massive gains.