Tesla enables in-car purchases and subscriptions

Tesla has started to enable in-car purchases and subscriptions in its latest software updates.

Owners can buy a “Premium Connectivity” straight from their center console inside Tesla vehicles.

Over the years, Tesla has started to find opportunities to sell upgrades to its owners by unlocking software features inside its vehicles.

Originally, owners needed to log into their Tesla accounts on the website to make those upgrades, like an “Acceleration Boost” or the Full Self-Driving package.

Later, Tesla made those upgrades available directly through its mobile app, which caused some issues as some owners reported unintentionally upgrades that they couldn’t always get refunded after the fact.

Now Tesla is going a step further and making it possible to make upgrades through in-car purchases.

Despite not being in the release notes, Tesla owners getting the new 2021.40.6 software update reports that they see a new tab in the Tesla menu for “Upgrades” (via on sageDieu on Reddit):

For now, it appears that only the Premium Connectivity Subscription is available through the in-car purchase system despite other upgrades, like Full Self-Driving package, being available through the app if you haven’t already bought them.

An internet connection comes standard in all Tesla vehicles, but in 2018, Tesla introduced a new Premium Connectivity subscription for $10 per month to get access to the more data-heavy features.

As we recently reported, Tesla has been trying to get more people to pay for the package by reducing the free trial period of Premium Connectivity that comes with new cars.

Interestingly, it’s actually not the first time that Tesla introduced in-car purchases.

Back in 2016, when Tesla was selling Model S vehicles with software-locked ranges, the automaker let owners unlock it through the car for $10,000.

But it was kind of a one-off feature for this specific reason.

Now Tesla has a dedicated section for “upgrades” inside its vehicles where owners can make purchases.

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