Published on: Sept 10, 2025 01:40 pm IST
Tesla has quietly broadened how it defines Full Self-Driving, making supervised features count toward company milestones.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) promise has always stood out. For years, Elon Musk has assured owners and investors that truly autonomous driving was just ahead. Now, that vision is getting a quiet rewrite, at least in Tesla’s official paperwork.
According to recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla’s board has subtly changed how FSD is defined in the context of a proposed $1 trillion compensation package for Musk. The document does not mention the Society of Automotive Engineers’ ranked autonomy levels, which are long considered the industry benchmark. Instead, it calls FSD “an advanced driving system capable of performing transportation tasks that provide autonomous or similar functionality under specified driving conditions”. This is a noticeably broader and less specific definition than many expected, and it puts Tesla’s current FSD system, which requires constant driver supervision, well within the company’s milestone targets.
This change comes at a time when the FSD package, still the company’s top-tier driving aid, remains at what the industry recognises as Level 2 automation. This means hands must stay on the wheel and eyes on the road, with the human driver responsible for taking over at any time. Although the term “Full Self-Driving” suggests otherwise, Tesla’s own manuals and support material caution that the feature does not make the vehicle autonomous.
This is good… for Tesla
Tesla’s updated language gives the company more breathing room, especially when it comes to reaching the compensation milestones set for Musk. Instead of promising Level 5, “no driver needed” autonomy, the filings make it easier for Tesla to count even modest driver assistance improvements as progress toward massive subscription or usage goals.
According to Benzinga, this has prompted criticism from tech observers and regulatory scrutiny in the US and California. The California DMV continues its case against Tesla for “Full Self-Driving” branding, charging that it can be misleading. Tesla has already changed the name to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” in the United States and switched to “Intelligent Assisted Driving” in China to address similar concerns.
Some see the changes as a practical step, reflecting where autonomous technology really stands in 2025. Others view the move as an admission that Level 5 autonomy, where cars drive themselves with no intervention, remains out of reach. With Tesla’s board making the definition of FSD so flexible, even current driver-supervised features could meet the requirements for future company goals and Musk’s compensation.
