Does HW4 improve the smoothness of standard Autopilot?

[MonoPoly307]

Hi guys,

We're about to upgrade our older Model 3 to a Model Y.

In Australia, there is some stock available with HW3 (at a discount), or we can order from the most recent shipment which comes with HW4.

The difference is about $3k.

We'll be keeping this car for around 3-4 years. We don't use Enhanced Autopilot or FSD (not available in Australia), but we definitely do use standard Autopilot both in the city and on long highway trips.

I'm wondering if anyone who has driven an HW3 vehicle and an HW4 vehicle could comment on whether HW4 brings any improvements to standard Autopilot? Also, do the new cameras provide a better job at mapping your surrounds when parking using Tesla Vision?

If the difference in performance of HW4 is really only meaningful for FSD drivers, we will probably be happy to go with an HW3 Model Y and enjoy the discount. But if there's already a difference in responsiveness, smoothness or anything else (aside from the clearer camera display on the screen... that's a nice to have, but not crucial), we will spend the extra and get an HW4-equipped car.

Thanks guys, appreciate your thoughts!

Cheers,
Mike

 

[EVRider-FL]

I don’t know that HW4 makes a big difference in how AP works, even with FSD, but who knows what will happen during the time you own the car.

 

[MonoPoly307]

I don’t know that HW4 makes a big difference in how AP works, even with FSD, but who knows what will happen during the time you own the car.

Yeah - I'm conscious too that at the moment the difference may be negligible or nothing at all, but over the next couple of years they may take advantage of HW4's more powerful processor and cameras to provide it with functionality that HW3 can't support. If not in terms of actual features, at least the performance of existing ones.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has driven both recently - or even better someone who has a HW3 and HW4 car in the household - to see whether refinement and sensitivity are improved for AP using HW4. Even a reduction in phantom braking or more precision when using the parking "heat map" would be beneficial.

 

[EVRider-FL]

We replaced two HW3 cars with HW4 cars last year. We had FSD in both cars, and I didn’t notice any significant difference in how it worked with HW4.

 

[enemji]

at this current stage, HW3 has more data than knowing what to do with it. HW4 is not going to help with that aspect.

 

[ewoodrick]

FSD (and I assume Autopilot) is currently running on HW4 emulating a HW3 computer.

So, no difference at this time.

 

[dansev]

I had a HW3 2019 M3 for nearly 5 years. I probably drove about 85,000 miles of autopilot on it. I now have a MY with HW4. About 8000 miles of autopilot in the MY, and I can say with certainty: there is currently no difference. That said, I’m certainly expecting there to be differences as time moves on.