Tesla is removing the expensive barrier of entry for their Full Self-Driving technology, kind of. Instead of charging a hefty $10,000, Tesla owners can instead subscribe to the feature for $200 a month.

The electric automaker recently announced a new service program for their self-driving tech. Full Self Driving is being offered as a $199 a month subscription for cars equipped with Basic Autopilot (or only $99 a month for cars with Enhanced Autopilot). The service can be cancelled at any time and the full $10k full purchase option will remain available.

To qualify, you need a Tesla vehicle with Version 3.0 software and the Full Self Driving computer chip introduced in mid 2019. If you have an older car with an outdated chip, it’ll cost $1,200 to upgrade the hardware.

Let’s do some math real quick.

For the subscription to have costed a lifetime total equal to $10k (the price of the full purchase), you would need to be subscribed for about 50 months, equal to 4 years and two months. This means that if you intend to use the Full Self Driving technology for more than four years, it’ll actually be more expensive to subscribe than to purchase it. On the other side, if you only intend to use it for 4 or fewer years, it’ll be less expensive.

Four years isn’t a terribly long time. Unless you’re the type of person to buy a new car every couple of years, this sounds like a sour deal. Yet again, if you can afford a Tesla, you're more likely to be that kind of person.

As interesting as fully self-driving cars are, I think I’ll wait until it becomes a more affordable option before taking it seriously.