MCU1 S Owners: Logic FOR/AGAINST Tesla's $2,500 "Infotainment Upgrade"? (Not required for FSD)

[f205v]

With AP2, MCU1, paid FSD I will probably not buy this option. They sold me a car with FSD, so it should be up to them to upgrade all necessary parts to give me that. If they will give me FSD with MCU1 I'll accept it. If they will be forced to upgrade to MCU2 to give me FSD I'll be more than happy to get it, but I'll definitively not pay $2500 for it.

 

[tccartier]

Just an FYI, you're not getting 5G as in the evolution from 4G LTE. You will be getting 5Ghz Wif. These two are very different.

Yes notice that later on when I was going back and looking over the article again. There's no value in five gigahertz Wi-Fi in a car that's parked in my garage. But the rest of the functionality may be worth it if and when my MCU dies and has to be replaced anyway.

 

[Ken7]

$2,500 to enable the extreme honor of paying $10/mo for what? Netflix, YouTube & a somewhat functional web browser. That's it? No thanks.

Of course not, you get the added pleasure of losing your radio! What’s not to like?

 

[T.R.T.e.s.l.a.]

I just pulled out my BGA rework setup thinking this weekend I wanted to finally swap out my emmc, as it's obviously dying. Of course, there is always the risk that the MCU will not survive this, and if that happens and I have to pay Tesla for a new MCU, I'd prefer it be MCU2 rather than MCU1 (which is same price or more, and will die like the old one did), HOWEVER my car may not be "eligible" for the upgrade for months, as it's a 2015 with AP1. Now I'm thinking should I risk it waiting for eligibility (I am not upgrading if the emmc transplant succeeds btw), and I have a deadline from Tesla of May 1st since I have been refusing updates due to my emmc having more issues on the "other image half" *sigh*

I'm kind of in the same boat.
I was going to have my emmc swapped and upgrade to LTE in the next couple of weeks, but now i'm unsure if i should just wait for MCU2 to become available for my late 2014 AP1 S85.
Damn!

 

[Dublin 'Eer]

Apparently Tesla decided not to upgrade the tuner module when performing the MCU2 upgrade to keep costs down. (Additional parts/wiring harness required as well as an additional ~2 hours of labor from what DIYers have said.)

Thanks for the info. I'd happily pay an extra $500 to keep my radio.

 

[SO16]

Bit of breaking news - TWTR reporting FSD will require the new MCU. This implies if you purchased FSD, you're getting the new MCU for free (?)

His & Hers Tesla on Twitter: "So I have some pretty juicy information…

Doesn’t appear to be true. Will need to pay.

Twitter

 

[Rayminster]

Your options don't go far enough back You don't consider the cars that do not have full self-driving and can never have full self-driving. I have a 2012 S85 signature. And yes I would upgrade to be able to get a faster and better MCU and 5G capability, seeing that my car already has unlimited premium connectivity and unlimited free supercharging And I'm not necessarily a fan of autopilot.

I agree, pre ap cars get the performance increase and compatible software features. This alone is well worth the price in my opinion. This should last well over 6 years. When you consider an iPhone cost 1k and people replace these every year.

 

[pslawing]

Good thought!

 

[Barry]

Any dash cam functionality for current AP1/MCU1 cars? That would make it an easy choice for me.

Just install a "real" dashcam. Far superior functionality with 1/60 the energy usage.

 

[RandyS]

2013 Model S P85. My MCU1 has bubbles and is leaking juice. The memory issue hasn't happened yet...It still works, for now...

I don't listen to the radio; and carry my own USB sticks with plenty of my favorite music.

The new upgrade would provide better performance, get rid of the bubbles and the juice leak, deflect the memory issue, and get me some new streaming video and game features....

When my time comes for an invite, after all the FSD folks, etc., I'll probably do the upgrade.

 

[David.85D]

Just install a "real" dashcam. Far superior functionality with 1/60 the energy usage.

I do have a BlackVue. On my third unit in 3.5 years... once replaced under warranty, once had to be mailed to Korea at my expense... tiresome

 

[Ostrichsak]

Yes notice that later on when I was going back and looking over the article again. There's no value in five gigahertz Wi-Fi in a car that's parked in my garage. But the rest of the functionality may be worth it if and when my MCU dies and has to be replaced anyway.

Actually, you should want all of your wireless clients to be capable of 5GHz not from a maximum speed standpoint but from a clearing up of the 2.4GHz spectrum standpoint.

2.4GHz is super cluttered by more than just WiFi devices (appliances like microwaves emit waves in that band in addition to the known culprits like cordless phones which hardly anybody uses anymore) and the more you can do to de-clutter that segment the better your entire network will work.

So, going 5GHz on something like your car sitting in your garage might actually improve connection and speed for ALL of the devices on your wireless network.

Ideally, much like the FM debate going on in this thread, it's better to have more options than you want/need because you never know. You really want a WiFi device capable of both 2.4GHz & 5GHz and the smarts to know when to use which one.

Personally, I don't use FM or wired headsets but I completely understand and fully support those who do and don't understand why manufacturers are removing such things. Even if it's a smallish percentage of customers who use these services it's an inexpensive and fully tested feature that really doesn't use much in the way of manufacturing resources or hardware resources once implemented.

 

[SilverGS]

AP1/MCU1 here. I'd upgrade when the opportunity comes mainly for the improved response assuming my current MCU hasn't died before then.

 

[Gt1948]

Where’s my email invite Elon?

 

[boonedocks]

Where’s my email invite Elon?

Well we have progressed from 3 months maybe 6 months definitely to "Not long now". LMAO.

So you'll get your email invite in ...... Not long now.

 

[Malujerry]

So now I’m confused and debating, the $2500 includes a new screen and internal computer hardware (MCU2) which will include a new eMMC?

I have a 2015 AP1/MCU1 70D that once in a while reboots (twice this year) that will need a new eMMC.

Is it better to have a new MCU2 versus just a eMMC replacement? The games/radio/5g makes no difference to me. I found someone to replace just the eMMC for $800. It seems to me it’s better to save the $1700 unless the MCU2 is far superior than a 16gb swissbit eMMC upgrade on a MCU1?

And I don’t have FSD, only AP was an option at the time. So will some version of FSD now be available with the $2500 upgrade? I’m not sure I care about that either.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Looks like when I get a new Tesla I'll have to add something for the radio.

 

[WASD]

I would do this for my AP1 MCU1 car just for the better performance and streaming updates. I would love to have a mini-sentry mode that uses the AP1 system. Also android auto would be great but I don't really need it. I don't care about radio or XM. 5GHz wifi will be nice but not that important IMO. 5GHz wifi is NOT "5g" cellular so I hope people don't get confused by this.

 

[Prism7342]

For those who want to upgrade to MCU2, having the option certainly is nice.

That said, I don't see how Tesla can say to owners who purchased FSD and have HW2.0 or HW2.5 with MCU1, you get a new FSD computer but don't get the Enhanced Visualizations unless you pay $2500 to upgrade the MCU. Part of the FSD package is the Enhanced Visualizations. It is literally called "Full Self-Driving Visualization Preview" in the settings of the car.

At this point I'm not too concerned about not having the visualizations because I'm not using Autopilot when there are trash cans, stoplights, or pedestrians around, but as the visualizations get better and FSD features are actually being released, it seems like a major safety issue to not know if you car sees the upcoming stoplight or pedestrian.

 

[Malujerry]

I would do this for my AP1 MCU1 car just for the better performance and streaming updates. I would love to have a mini-sentry mode that uses the AP1 system. Also android auto would be great but I don't really need it. I don't care about radio or XM. 5GHz wifi will be nice but not that important IMO. 5GHz wifi is NOT "5g" cellular so I hope people don't get confused by this.

so what exactly is the better performance? Faster web and music loading? Would it be similar to a 8gb eMMC replacement with a 16gb?