MCU Retrofit

[jaguar36]

It's also difficult to explain to a new owner 'Yeah, you need the old CID althought you have MCU2 because the previous owner didn't do a full upgrade. The old CID is more epxensive because its a computer instead of a screen'.

It just adds tons of problems by doing a half baked upgrade

Tesla is already in this situation for all of the used cars. There is a whole mishmash of features that you may or may not have from the big hitters like AP to the little things like Chill mode or hill hold.

Regardless there is no retrofit right now. Everything is just speculation at this point. Personally I'm in the camp that Tesla won't ever offer a retrofit (regardless of what Elon tweets). If they do who knows what it will look like or how much it will cost.

 

[Tozz]

Tesla is already in this situation for all of the used cars. There is a whole mishmash of features that you may or may not have from the big hitters like AP to the little things like Chill mode or hill hold.

Agreed, and it is also clear that it is causing hem problems. Sometimes issues in new firmware arise only with certain configurations. It was also Apple's main objection to Android: She sheer number of different configurations.

But, the big difference between with Tesla now is that all these different cars are fully functional. They are up to their specifications.

If Tesla would do half-upgrades, eg. only the MCU, no 5G WiFi, no CID retrofit it is not only an issue for the engineering team it is also an issue for the sales department. You cannot sell a car as 'has MCU2', if it missing for example 5G WiFi. So tesla would have to keep track of all these half-done upgrades and sell them like 'This is a former MCU1 car which we have done a somewhat half baked upgrade on'.

It also doesn't make any sense from having a fully functional car and changing it into something part broken (missing 5G WiFi).

From Tesla's point of view it makes no sense to do a half MCU2 upgrade. They shouldn't do it at all or they should do a COMPLETE upgrade. From Tesla's view it makes absolutely no sense to do a half upgrade other than to please the customer now by quoting him a lower price.

 

[JenkinsEar]

Agreed, and it is also clear that it is causing hem problems. Sometimes issues in new firmware arise only with certain configurations. It was also Apple's main objection to Android: She sheer number of different configurations.

But, the big difference between with Tesla now is that all these different cars are fully functional. They are up to their specifications.

If Tesla would do half-upgrades, eg. only the MCU, no 5G WiFi, no CID retrofit it is not only an issue for the engineering team it is also an issue for the sales department. You cannot sell a car as 'has MCU2', if it missing for example 5G WiFi. So tesla would have to keep track of all these half-done upgrades and sell them like 'This is a former MCU1 car which we have done a somewhat half baked upgrade on'.

It also doesn't make any sense from having a fully functional car and changing it into something part broken (missing 5G WiFi).

From Tesla's point of view it makes no sense to do a half MCU2 upgrade. They shouldn't do it at all or they should do a COMPLETE upgrade. From Tesla's view it makes absolutely no sense to do a half upgrade other than to please the customer now by quoting him a lower price.

But would it be Tesla that would be selling the partial-MCU2 cars? Or the car owners? Tesla would be wanting to sell new car replacements, would it not?

 

[jaguar36]

You cannot sell a car as 'has MCU2', if it missing for example 5G WiFi.

Why couldn't they? You can get a 2013 that has 3G or LTE depending on if the owner upgraded or not. This hardly stops Tesla. Hell most people wouldn't ever notice.

Regardless as I said before this is all rampant speculation.

 

[Tozz]

Why couldn't they? You can get a 2013 that has 3G or LTE depending on if the owner upgraded or not. This hardly stops Tesla. Hell most people wouldn't ever notice.

Yes, but that is different. Those are full upgrades. They are done completely and fully working. You ask for LTE upgrade, and you have LTE. To clarify, my point is not wether or not Tesla should offer MCU2 upgrades. I think they should. My point is that IF they do it, it should be a FULL and COMPLETE upgrade.

MP3Mike made a comment that Tesla could/should do "half upgrades", with the result being a car that has the the new processor but is lacking other new features of the new MCU such as 5G WiFi. So you buy a device that has 10 new options, but only 2 of them work (random numbers).

Now a new buyer is looking for a CPO and sees "Hey, this car has MCU2, nice, I have a 5G accesspoint at home". Only to find out it doesn't work. He goes back to Tesla and they say: "Oh yeah, no that is not broken. No, no. We've done a half-upgrade for the previous owne. Yeah you kinda have a Frankenstein car with parts from both MCU1 and MCU2".

It puts Tesla in a difficult spot. The buyer of the CPO feels his car is defective and actually it is defective because a feature supported by MCU2 does not work.

 

[tmoz]

Musk should have kept his mouth shut - seems like a big PITA. Especially if something goes wrong.
I'm also thinking big bucks to get the new one. Save my money to refresh the model S sometime in the future.
Technicians will probably be up to their eyeballs servicing Model 3 cars shortly.

 

[chillaban]

Musk should have kept his mouth shut - seems like a big PITA. Especially if something goes wrong.
I'm also thinking big bucks to get the new one. Save my money to refresh the model S sometime in the future.
Technicians will probably be up to their eyeballs servicing Model 3 cars shortly.

In my experience, it tends to be more complicated than that. Customer sentiment that their hardware is upgradable incrementally also drives more sales compared to the "I'm gonna wait" sentiment, especially when it comes to inventory cars. There's a fine balance to be reached here.

IMO the poorest decision here regarding MCU2 was that it looked to be redesigned in a manner not amenable to retrofitting without further hardware changes. They clearly didn't think they'd have to retrofit, until Elon reversed the decision.

 

[dave4444]

The MCU on my early-2015 S died a few weeks ago. It took the SC almost 2 weeks to source a replacement part, but they did replace the entire screen and MCU. They put in a 'MCU NA PREMIUM - Model S and Model X (1045006-00-D)' part, but that is the older arm based one Either the older (AP1 or pre-AP) cars are incompatible with the new x86 one or they have old stock that needs to get used up. On the good note it was under warranty so no cost, and I got a 3G to LTE upgrade in the process.

 

[tmoz]

The MCU on my early-2015 S died a few weeks ago. It took the SC almost 2 weeks to source a replacement part, but they did replace the entire screen and MCU. They put in a 'MCU NA PREMIUM - Model S and Model X (1045006-00-D)' part, but that is the older arm based one Either the older (AP1 or pre-AP) cars are incompatible with the new x86 one or they have old stock that needs to get used up. On the good note it was under warranty so no cost, and I got a 3G to LTE upgrade in the process.

Lucky you. I paid the $500 for the LTE upgrade

 

[r0xx0r]

Saw this article today.

Tesla could have to offer computer retrofits to all Autopilot 2.0 and 2.5 cars by the end of next year

Tesla could have to offer computer retrofits to all Autopilot 2.0 and 2.5 cars by the end of next year

 

[jaguar36]

Saw this article today.

Tesla could have to offer computer retrofits to all Autopilot 2.0 and 2.5 cars by the end of next year

Tesla could have to offer computer retrofits to all Autopilot 2.0 and 2.5 cars by the end of next year

Those are AP retrofits, nothing to do with the MCU.

 

[tmoz]

What about AP1? I'm pretty sure he was touting coast to coast with AP1. Won't even follow a Nav route yet.

 

[brkaus]

Who cares if it has 5ghz WiFi. It is not like you sit around and use it on WiFi or it makes a hill of beans difference for most people. The car operates fine with just cellular.

All they need is a simple info screen under settings to display the cars config if people are worried about valuing the car.

 

[bob_p]

When we get our new Model X (June/July?), we'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison of the new and old MCUs.

While the new MCU may be faster, having it likely won't impact what applications or features we can run. And we'd only consider upgrading the MCU in our S 100D if the performance difference is huge, justifying what is likely to be a $1000+ upgrade.

 

[mknox]

When we get our new Model X (June/July?), we'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison of the new and old MCUs.

I'll be honest. I traded my 2013 Model S with original MCU and 3G for a new Model X with the new MCU and LTE. I don't see what the fuss is all about. I don't really notice any difference in my day-to-day use except that the new MCU still is glitchy and buggy, although getting better with recent firmware updates.I certainly wouldn't be prepared to spend in the thousands for an upgrade if my X didn't come with the new one.

 

[travwill]

At this point the older/oldest MCU works just fine still. Until they come out with some mind blowing 3D interface that it won't be able to get, not a huge deal. The LTE was nice (glad have it) since it allows for faster music buffering, etc. But overall, not sure why people are so passionate about retrofitting, etc. Especially for $$$. We don't expect that in any other car brand.

 

[TaoJones]

Took MX delivery in late December 2017. How do I determine which MCU I have? (I have not been bothered by any perceived UI sluggishness, BTW.)

Oh, it’s more than perceived.

Go to Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla and commence to configuring your next chariot via the Design Studio all the way through to (but not through) the deposit step (unless you want to, in which case do PM me for a spiffy referral code).

G’head. I’ll wait.

Feel no pressure.

Are ya done yet?

No?

Now?

How ‘bout now?

And if you think that’s annoying *grin*, try viewing a pdf file (for example a brokerage or card statement) which would be nice to view in 17” rather than via yer phone.

Hopefully the software tweak will make viewing at least static content a wee bit less onerous.

The $500 LTE upgrade was necessary and worth the money. Not sold yet about the MCU2 upgrade but for $2500 if it includes *all* the hardware then maybe, given the potential of MCU2.

 

[jaguar36]

Hopefully the software tweak will make viewing at least static content a wee bit less onerous.

By software update do you mean 2018.14? Because after that update the browser works very well. No way is a retrofit worth it now.

The $500 LTE upgrade was necessary and worth the money.

It was certainly not necessary, and I think its debatable if it was worth the money. I've got a 3G and a LTE car and have never gotten in the 3G car and thought it was unbearable or difficult to use because of it.

 

[TaoJones]

By software update do you mean 2018.14? Because after that update the browser works very well. No way is a retrofit worth it now.


It was certainly not necessary, and I think its debatable if it was worth the money. I've got a 3G and a LTE car and have never gotten in the 3G car and thought it was unbearable or difficult to use because of it.

Your 3G must be fabulous. In multiple cars, mine and loaners that had 3G, streaming was largely useless and maps tiled verrrrrrrry slowly. This behavior was consistent both in town driving down the 405, at home (where AT&T 3G has always been a little suspect but LTE is fine) and on the road.

That’s good news re the MCU software enhancement. Can you, using the browser now, configure a purchase from end to end (not including processing the deposit, unless you want a 3rd Tesla, in which case if you’re tired of using your own referral code just let me know) the Tesla.com Design Studio?

This presumes LTE. If you tell me you can configure all the way through the workflow using 3G and the software-enhanced MCU, i may have to request the oldest loaner they have during my next SvC appointment and see this for myself.

 

[jaguar36]

Your 3G must be fabulous. In multiple cars, mine and loaners that had 3G, streaming was largely useless and maps tiled verrrrrrrry slowly. This behavior was consistent both in town driving down the 405, at home (where AT&T 3G has always been a little suspect but LTE is fine) and on the road..

I only use streaming and have never had a problem with it on 3G (that's without the upgraded sound). The map tiles load fairly quickly. The satellite view does take a bit longer.

That’s good news re the MCU software enhancement. Can you, using the browser now, configure a purchase from end to end (not including processing the deposit, unless you want a 3rd Tesla, in which case if you’re tired of using your own referral code just let me know) the Tesla.com Design Studio?.

Yep, works just fine. This was on LTE without a strong signal so it did take awhile to load the design studio.