Tesla is handing out an early holiday gift, but only if your car is equipped with Hardware 4 (HW4). As part of a push to gather more real-world self-driving data, Tesla is giving a free 30-day trial of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) 14 software to around 1.5 million vehicles that qualify. If you’re still running Hardware 3, however, you’re sitting this one out.

Free FSD trial goes to HW4 vehicles only

The trial is being offered to owners of newer Teslas Model S, 3, X, Y, and Cybertruck that ship with HW4 and are already running FSD 14.2 or later. The offer applies across North America, including Puerto Rico. It mirrors the existing 30-day trial Tesla gives with new vehicle purchases but now extends to existing HW4 customers who haven’t yet tried or subscribed to the service.

This move is clearly designed to get more eyes and hands on FSD. Despite Tesla’s claims that FSD 14 is a major leap in autonomy, take-up remains modest. At $99 per month or $8,000 outright, many HW4 owners have yet to try it.

HW3 cars are sidelined for now

While HW4 users enjoy a month of fully supervised FSD, owners of older HW3-equipped vehicles are being left out. Tesla isn’t offering retrofits to AI4 hardware as originally hinted. Instead, the company is reportedly working on a “FSD Lite” alternative, which could roll out once its Robotaxi platform expands to more metro markets in late 2025 and early 2026.

No firm details exist yet on what FSD Lite will include, but expectations are it’ll be a trimmed-down version of the current supervised stack just enough to bridge the feature gap without overloading older hardware.

What Tesla’s FSD 14 trial includes

The 30-day trial opens up Tesla’s full supervised FSD feature set, including:

• Zero-intervention driving in both urban and highway conditions
• Speed Profiles like “Mad Max” and “Sloth Mode”
• Arrival Options for self-parking at the end of a route
• Continuous software updates, including the expected FSD 14.3 “sentient” build

Tesla says eligible drivers simply need to be on FSD 14.2 or later to receive the offer. The update is rolling out now, and the trial activation will be handled via email or in-car notification.

Tesla pushes FSD through firsthand exposure

Elon Musk continues to promote FSD 14 as a major milestone, and this free month-long test is clearly designed to boost both exposure and user data. Tesla knows that letting people try it firsthand, not just read about it, might be the nudge needed to turn skeptics into subscribers.

And if the upcoming FSD 14.3 update hits before year-end, Tesla may have just timed its holiday gift perfectly.