Tesla has been doing a much larger beta test and charges 9k for the sign up.

I felt like Tesla did a cash grab when they recently offered an upgrade from "auto pilot" (which I pre-ordered on the forthcoming Cyber Truck) to "full auto". This upgrade raised my estimated delivery price by $10k. I went ahead and did it, but WTF? My initial estimate already included the $9k for "auto pilot" so now I'm paying $19k for self driving?

I loled at this, not at all because I find joy in your situation, but because it's so difficult to picture (A) someone who buys a cybertruck being price sensitive, or (B) someone who is like "well, ok I guess" in the face of a $9k price hike on a truck.

It should only be $10K, but remember it's not for the life of the car nor is it for the life of you. It is for the time you own that particular car and then you lose it even if they still haven't released FSD by then (which they probably won't)

Autopilot is included in the base price, it has never cost 9k. The FSD price went up from 7k to 10k last year.