Turo will begin labeling which Teslas listed on its rental marketplace have Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system enabled, the company said, a collaboration aimed at widening exposure to the driver assistance software. Turo hosts whose cars qualify for the program will also get a free one-month FSD trial. Turo said it is working with Tesla to connect directly to the automaker's API so it can confirm which vehicles have FSD activated.
The arrangement follows Tesla's disclosure days earlier of figures indicating more customers are paying for the software, which can perform most driving tasks but still requires a person to monitor the road. Tesla said about 1.7 million customers worldwide have paid for FSD, out of more than 10 million vehicles built and sold to date. More than 75% of customers who took delivery in North America in the third quarter paid for an FSD subscription, roughly a 20% gain over the second quarter, a period in which the company's U.S. sales have been declining.
Tesla has spent much of the past year remodeling some showrooms to put more emphasis on FSD as a selling point. CEO Elon Musk said in a post last week that the push is paying off, describing buyers as purchasing FSD with a car attached rather than the reverse. On the company's earnings call, finance chief Vaibhav Taneja said customers are arriving asking for an FSD drive rather than for a Model 3, Model Y or Cybertruck.
For Turo, flagging FSD-equipped cars could lift rentals of vehicles that already perform well on its platform. Turo said the Model 3 and Model Y rank third and fourth among its most popular vehicles this year, and the company said the integration increases host earning opportunities as interest in self-driving technology grows.
CEO Andre Haddad said the Tesla integration is the first of its kind for the industry and fits Turo's effort to reshape car rental and access. He said most travelers have had few chances to try driver assistance technology even though demand is evident, citing company research finding 55% of Americans interested in driverless technology for travel, rising to 71% among Gen Z. Turo's marketplace model, he said, is positioned to close the gap between consumer curiosity and hands-on access.
Renters of an FSD-enabled Tesla through Turo will see warning language instructing them to watch the software and be prepared to take control at any moment, and they will be able to watch a Tesla-made tutorial. A screenshot of the Turo app shown to reporters states that when the system is on, the vehicle will drive almost anywhere with active supervision and minimal intervention. Listings also let owners advertise their cars as Self-Driving, according to another screenshot Turo provided.
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