Elon Musk responded (not shown) in a news event with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Elon Musk's passion for promotion TeslaThe autonomous driving technology hasn't done much to win potential buyers.
According to a new survey, more and more American consumers say Tesla's FSD or full autonomous driving (supervised) systems will keep them away from the brand rather than attracting it to the brand.
The Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report, published in August, was investigated by political consulting firm Slingshot Strategy. Only 14% of respondents said FSD would make them more likely to buy Tesla, while 35% said the technology would make them less likely to buy.
The remaining 51% said that FSD availability has no impact on them when it comes to purchasing decisions. Nearly half of the consumers surveyed by Slingshot said they believe FSD technology should be illegal.
For Tesla, the disturbing result is the middle of a sluggish sales due to an aging lineup of electric vehicles and increased competition from competitors. There are also reputational losses to Musk, his incitement political rhetoric, working with the Trump administration and supporting the support of Germany's far-right AFD party.
European Tesla car sales fell 40% in July from a year ago (the seventh consecutive month of decline).
Tesla is lagging behind in the robot market letter– Apollo Go with Waymo and Baidu. Now in the early stages of testing Car rides in Austin, Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area are hopeful to reach more cities this year. Austin's car has a human supervisor on board, while San Francisco's cars have a wheel driver.
Musk, the world's wealthiest man, said Tesla's future relies on its ability to provide self-driving cars and related services. He recently said a new variant of the model Y was launched in China, given the emergence of autonomous driving in the United States, and production will not begin until the end of next year” and “may never will.” ”
Currently, Tesla still relies on electric vehicle sales of the vast majority of its revenue, although Musk touted FSD as one of the company's biggest advantages over its competitors.
Last month, executives suggested that Tesla had market education issues in promoting FSD adoption.
“The vast majority of people don't know it exists,” Musk said on the company's second-quarter earnings call. “And still like half of Tesla owners can use it, not even try it once.”
Musk said when they bring the car into service, he will start introducing the FSD to customers and start contacting the driver, sending them videos about how it works.
Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said in July’s earnings call that people who subscribe to the Premium FSD option get something like “personal drivers” for about $3.33 a day.
Tesla sells today's version of FSD for owners to use for $99 per month or upfront purchases. The system provides users with limited autonomous driving capabilities for residential and urban streets.
On Thursday, Tesla sent out a promotion to offer 0% APR financing for customers who ordered the new Model 3 by September 1, as long as they add FSD to their orders, or transfer from Tesla they previously owned.
“Responsible for AV Manufacturers”
Musk said in his post on X that FSD can “operate under all conditions” and will “save lives” and will be “life-changing products” for many. He also shared a user-generated video showing the owner of Tesla using FSD without having both hands on the steering wheel.
However, in the owner's manual, Tesla lists many conditions where FSD supervision may not be reliable and warns the user to always maintain operation on the steering wheel and be ready to take over steering or braking.
Of the part of the survey respondents actively seeking to buy an all-electric vehicle, only 20% said they were more likely to buy a Tesla due to FSD, while 33% said they were less likely. Evan Roth Smith, research director at Slingshot, said the lack of clarity and honesty in the company's marketing could be a factor.
Most consumers surveyed by the company want clear and powerful regulations in the U.S. ruling self-driving cars, whether fully automatic or partially automated.
“There is a lot of support, requiring AV manufacturers to be held responsible for accidents, and requiring stricter regulation and advertising guardrails around features such as FSD,” Slingshot reported.
Smith said data shows that Tesla has the highest reputation in the U.S. besides its FSD troubles, it has the highest reputation for any EV manufacturer in the U.S.
“The decline in the company’s brand reputation this year is significant,” he said, adding that recent product liability lawsuits and judgments may be at work.
In early August, a jury ruled that Tesla was partly responsible for the fatal crash that relied on its autonomous driving system. Tesla, which plans to appeal the decision, must pay approximately $243 million in losses to victims and survivors.
The Slingshot report found that the number of consumers who view Tesla cars as unsafe has increased from 34% to 36% over the past two months, while the Slingshot report found that those who view Tesla as extremely safe fell from 17% to 13%.
Honda, Toyota and Chevrolet are considered the safest respondents.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Slingshot said it sent the findings to the company, but also heard no echoes from the automaker.
Tesla may find that owners in other markets embrace their brand and FSD with greater enthusiasm. The company has just begun offering this week at FSD, which is supervised in Australia.
Read the full EV intelligence report from Slingshot in August 2025 here.
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