Tesla’s European Subscription Pivot and Regulatory Loophole

Tesla has officially killed the one-time purchase option for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) across Europe, replacing the €7,500 (£6,800) upfront cost with a €99 (£99) monthly subscription Yahoo Autos. The move mirrors Tesla's U.S. strategy and removes the "Enhanced Autopilot" middle-tier, which previously cost €3,800 InsideEVs. While FSD (Supervised) is currently only fully approved in the Netherlands and Lithuania, the subscription model allows owners in other regions to pay for the "potential" of the software or use basic highway features while awaiting local regulatory green lights Yahoo Autos.

Crucially, Tesla does not need a unanimous European Union vote to expand FSD access. Under Article 39 of E.U. Regulation 2018/858, Tesla can seek provisional type-approval on a country-by-country basis The Motley Fool. Since the Netherlands’ Vehicle Authority (RDW) has already granted approval after 18 months of testing, other member states can choose to adopt that data immediately rather than waiting for the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) to hold a full E.U. vote, which isn't expected until July at the earliest The Motley Fool.

The Trillion-Dollar S-1: SpaceX Goes for the Nasdaq

SpaceX has formally filed its S-1 prospectus for a Nasdaq debut under the ticker SPCX, aiming to raise $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in Wall Street history BBC. The filing targets a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion, positioning the rocket maker to potentially surpass the market caps of global giants like Amazon Manufacturing.net. The document reveals that Musk controls 85.1% of the company's voting power through a super-voting Class B share structure Manufacturing.net.

Financial disclosures within the filing show SpaceX spent $20.7 billion in 2025, with over $11 billion dedicated to the Starlink connectivity unit Manufacturing.net. Despite generating $18.6 billion in revenue last year, the company reported a net loss of $4.9 billion BBC. Investors are also eyeing the disclosure that Musk has only pledged 0.3% of his SpaceX shares as collateral for personal loans, a massive reduction from previous estimates of 57% Business Insider. This revelation alone added $45 billion to Musk’s estimated net worth, pushing him to a record $722 billion Business Insider.

Waymo’s Highway Retreat as Tesla Pushes Unsupervised

Alphabet’s Waymo has suspended all robotaxi operations on freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami TechCrunch. The company cited the need to integrate "technical learnings" into its software after vehicles were spotted struggling with construction zones, including one incident where a Waymo car reportedly drove through traffic cones TechCrunch. Simultaneously, Waymo paused all service in Atlanta after an unoccupied vehicle became stuck in floodwaters NBC News.

The suspension coincides with Waymo's recent recall of 3,791 vehicles following a San Antonio incident where a robotaxi was swept into a creek Claims Journal. In contrast, Tesla advocates are doubling down on vision-only autonomy; FSD v14.3.3 has introduced a "streak" counter to track intervention-free miles, which top testers claim proves the software is ready for unsupervised use Basenor. Tesla’s actual unsupervised fleet currently consists of roughly 30 vehicles operating as a pilot robotaxi service across Austin, Houston, and Dallas Basenor.

Market Watch

TSLA is trading at $429.33, up 2.75% as of Friday morning Yahoo Finance. The stock is buoyed by the SpaceX IPO filing, as investors view the Destiny Tech100 fund—which holds 14.5% of its portfolio in SpaceX—as a proxy for Musk's private empire Bitget.

In the broader tech sector, Nvidia is trading at $220.45 after announcing a 2,400% dividend increase to $0.25 per share and an additional $80 billion share repurchase program The Motley Fool. Meanwhile, Walmart is seeing its worst performance since 2023 as retail concerns weigh on the consumer staples sector CNBC.