March 26 (Reuters) - Electric carmaker Tesla

will offer U.S. customers a month's free trial of its

driver-assist technology, Full Self-Driving (FSD), CEO Elon Musk

said on Monday, as softening demand and price competition

pressure the company's sales and margins.

Musk has long touted the driver assistant software, priced

at $12,000, as a potential profit generator for the company, but

has fallen short of his promise of full autonomy for years, amid

regulatory and legal scrutiny of Tesla's safety and marketing.

"All U.S. cars that are capable of FSD will be enabled for a

one-month trial this week," Musk said in a post on social media

platform X.

He has also told Tesla staff to give demonstrations of FSD

to new buyers and owners of serviced vehicles, according to two

emails verified by a source who sought anonymity.

"Almost no one actually realizes how well (supervised) FSD

actually works," Musk said in one of the two emails, sent to

Tesla employees.

Researcher Troy Teslike said the "FSD take rate" was

declining in North America, with about 14% of Tesla customers

buying the package in the third quarter of 2022, down from a

record high of 53% in the third quarter of 2019.

Tesla's margins have been hurt by a price war with rivals

that started more than a year ago. It also warned in January of

"notably lower" delivery growth this year, as it focuses on

production of its next-generation EV.

"The combination of substantial price cuts on the vehicles

and dramatically lower FSD take rates has severely hurt Tesla's

margins," said analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Guidehouse Insights.

"The mandate to demonstrate FSD as it is today, is just the

latest in a long-running series of end-of-quarter stunts by Musk

intended to boost deliveries and revenues."

The FSD software, which Tesla says does not make its

vehicles autonomous and requires active driver supervision, has

also been offered at a subscription of $199 a month.