During Tesla's latest quarterly report, its CEO Elon Musk made a surprising admission that he himself called "absolutely painful and difficult". After more than a decade of assurances that Tesla is on the verge of creating a full-fledged autonomous driving (FSD) system, Musk for the first time openly admitted that the existing computer equipment does not allow for the full implementation of this technology.
“The truth is that we will have to upgrade or replace the Hardware 3 computers for those who purchased the Full Self-Driving package, and we do not yet have this option. "That's an honest answer," the billionaire said.
The announcement was a turning point, as Tesla had previously sold cars with expensive computer modules, promising that their value would increase after the full launch of FSD. At the same time, Musk admitted that he was "somewhat pleased" that relatively few people had purchased the package, even though he had been actively encouraging customers to do so for many years.
It is noteworthy that this admission was made during a speech by Ashok Elusuwamy, head of Tesla's Autopilot and Artificial Intelligence division. Musk unexpectedly interrupted his presentation, effectively contradicting his claims that tried to convince investors that Hardware 3 was still relevant to the company.
In response to this intervention, Elusuwamy diplomatically stated that Tesla would release a "lite" version of FSD for existing hardware while engineers work on new capabilities for cars equipped with Hardware 4.
It is worth noting that during the last quarterly report in 2024, Musk already hinted at the limitations of Hardware 3, admitting that it may not provide the level of safety necessary for fully autonomous driving. At the time, he emphasized that Hardware 4 is several times more powerful and that it is much easier to run the system on a new platform than to try to adapt it for the previous version.
Tesla already has experience in upgrading computer hardware for FSD owners. In 2018, the company began installing Hardware 3 for free for customers who purchased autonomous driving software. Now Musk has announced a similar update to Hardware 4, but did not specify when it will be available.