Latest news with #HW3
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Once Again Admits Most Teslas Physically Can't 'Self Drive' Without Another Hardware Upgrade
Elon Musk famously thought that automating the entirety of driving would be a pretty easy job, and he's been steadily and continually surprised when it turns out to actually be difficult. This trend carries over to the tech installed in Tesla's cars, which has required update after update, each time accompanied by Musk saying that this one, totally, is the one that'll solve autonomy. Now, we're seeing it again: Tesla's now-outdated HW3 hardware can't handle autonomy, and only the new HW4 cars can. If this story sounds familiar, it's because the same thing happened back when Tesla introduced the HW3 kit. The company had sold its 'Full Self-Driving' software to owners with older HW2.5 cars, then had to upgrade them to HW3 at dealers. According to The Verge, that's the plan this time too: 'The truth is that we're gonna have to upgrade people's Hardware 3 computer for those who have bought Full Self Driving, and that is the honest answer,' Musk said during yesterday's earnings call, adding that it will be 'absolutely painful and difficult.' ... Although millions of Tesla vehicles on the road have HW3 installed, only FSD purchasers will get whatever upgrade Musk is now promising. 'I'm kind of glad that not that many people bought the FSD package,' Musk quipped. It remains unclear if Tesla will now engineer a new retrofit upgrade. (Musk previously said they wouldn't.) This means that if you purchased the FSD package on a HW2.5 car — back when Tesla promised you that doing so would allow your car to drive itself — your dealer upgrade still isn't enough, and you'll have to go through the whole rigamarole again. This time, though, things may be far tougher than upgrading to HW3. The HW4 computer's form factor is different from HW3, meaning there's no simple plug and play upgrade. And don't forget that FSD in its current form is just a Level 2 hands-free system that still requires the driver to pay attention and be in control — it's not actually 'self driving.' It should be clear by now that Musk and Tesla continually promise features that simply aren't possible, reap the stock benefits, then quietly shuffle things around later to keep sycophant customers happy. This time, though, the hardware will totally work out just like the company says. Right? For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
An Old Promise About Full Self-Driving Catches Up to Tesla
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says older versions of computing hardware for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) will need to be updated, contrary to Tesla's longtime position that the computer hardware would not need upgrades. Tesla is expected to retrofit HW4 in place of HW3 for a certain population of Tesla models stretching back over half a decade. FSD is still operating at SAE Level 2 and requires driver attention to the road at all times, though the automaker has indicated that future software updates will permit higher levels of automated driving. Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, which recently received a Supervised suffix to hint at the limits of its actual capabilities, has seen no shortage of promises or controversy since its launch. And several years in, it appears that one particular promise is catching up to the automaker. On this week's conference call with investors, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked by an audience member regarding the possibility of owners who have purchased Full Self-Driving years ago facing a hardware upgrade for the still-evolving system at some point. In the past, Tesla had said FSD capabilities would increase via over-the-air updates, and that the hardware itself would not need to be upgraded. Specifically, hardware version 3, or HW3, which debuted in 2019 was signaled to not require updates in the future as FSD's own abilities grew via software. However, this plan now appears to have been too confident, with the Tesla CEO indicating that hardware version 4, or HW4, will need to be installed in all cars for future FSD capabilities. "We are going to have to upgrade Hardware 3 for people who bought FSD," Musk said during the call. "That's the honest answer. It's going to be painful and difficult but that's what we're going to have to do." Aside from the optimistic view that computer hardware that debuted in 2019 would never need to be replaced, especially for a system that relies on processing power, plans to update the hardware itself could impose hefty service costs on the automaker. However, one issue that this predicament ignores is the reality of how long people actually keep their cars. Tesla had been selling FSD since 2016, before HW3 arrived, and had launched FSD Beta in October 2020. The system has been offered to buyers and lessees on a monthly subscription basis, as well as the one-time purchase, with the current one-time price set at $8,000 outright or $99 a month. FSD is also not transferrable to new owners once a Tesla is sold on the aftermarket. Additionally, Tesla has not disclosed just how many FSD subscriptions or outright purchases have been made by Tesla owners in recent years, so the number of cars that would require this retrofit remains unknown. Therefore, the pool of cars that Tesla would have to realistically worry about updating does not stretch all the way to 2016, but is likely far more recent. When it comes to actual capabilities, at the moment FSD has not progressed beyond SAE Level 2, thus requiring driver attention to the road at all times, while some competitors' systems are already offering eyes-off capabilities of SAE Level 3. "The currently enabled features require a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment," Tesla notes regarding FSD. For now, SAE Level 3 is permitted in only two US states (California and Nevada), and Mercedes-Benz remains the sole automaker that has offered it to buyers in the US. A nationwide regulatory standard for automated and autonomous driving is one of the things that is expected to emerge from the Tesla CEO's involvement in the Trump administration, possibly paving the way for a more permissive Level 3 landscape. Will FSD need lidar and radar to achieve eyes-off, hands-off operation in coming years, or can it accomplish this with video alone, as Tesla proposes? Please comment below.
