Tesla Just Paywalled A Standard Feature From The Model 3 And Model Y Trims

After years of keeping Autosteer as a standard feature on all its vehicles as a part of its Autopilot suite of advanced driver assistance (ADAS) functions, Tesla has quietly removed it from its most affordable cars: the Model 3 and the Model Y, the latter is particularly well-liked among its owners and is one of the most reliable electric SUVs, according to Consumer Reports. The change can be seen on the company's vehicle configurator and trim compare sections, which no longer mention Autosteer. If you want Autosteer, you will need to pay for the Full Self-Driving (FSD) (Supervised) capability.

The removal of Autosteer from all trims of Model 3 and Model Y comes just weeks after Tesla had done the same to the base "Standard" trims of these two cars. The "Standard" trims for the Model 3 and the Model Y were introduced in October 2025 in an effort to make them even more affordable. 

While the discontinuation of the Autosteer from the Standard trim was a surprise, it wasn't a massive departure from the existing practices in the wider auto industry, as car makers tend to limit certain features for the more expensive trims of their cars. However, removing the feature from all trims, which has been a given for these two cars, has caused a lot of backlash online. Here's what Autosteer does and what people are saying about its removal.

As mentioned, Autosteer is one of the ADAS functions, and it continuously keeps your Tesla centered in its lane when enabled, without needing steering input from you. However, it still requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel and be aware of your surroundings. It directly works with the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) or adaptive cruise control feature to make highway driving less cumbersome. Fortunately, despite the removal of Autosteer support, Tesla has kept the TACC function standard in all trims of the Model 3 and the Model Y, without any extra charges or subscriptions.

This change has seemingly been made in an effort to push new buyers to pay for the FSD capability. You can get FSD for your Tesla by either paying a one-time charge of $8,000 or a monthly subscription of $99 (temporarily reduced in Jan 2026 to $49 a month as compensation for the Autosteer changes). Notably, the one-time option to purchase FSD is going away and is only available until February 14, 2026. 

The need to get a subscription to get a feature like Autosteer has not gone down well with current and prospective Tesla customers. "No lane centering on a premium car? The humblest Nissan Leaf now comes with ProPilot standard," remarked a Reddit user. To remind you, Nissan's Leaf is one of the cheapest EVs on the market. "Getting rid of Autosteer is a really poor move," commented a person in reply to Elon Musk's X post, seemingly confirming this development and claiming the price of FSD will rise further in the future. This means that getting Autosteer will become even more expensive for Tesla buyers.