Model S/X deliveries with Intel-based MCU

[MarkS22]

One thing to keep in mind is that it isn't just a different processor but different wiring harness as well. This could be important because they could release a front camera, 360 cameras, etc which would be an easy retrofit for cars with the new MCU/wiring but not possible for old cars.

That's speculation, but there is a chance more has changed besides the MCU. We'll have to wait for a teardown, I guess.

 

[GatorGuy]

That's speculation, but there is a chance more has changed besides the MCU. We'll have to wait for a teardown, I guess.

We know that there is a new 5 ghz wifi antenna as well as new bluetooth antenna likely for phone as a key feature from people who have taken limited pictures of their units.

 

[trishs]

My VIN is the same and I take delivery the same day. I think my production date was the same or day or two earlier. I have been told that I will have the new MCU so your chances are good.

Do you think it matters that I took on a preproduction inventory model though? I also took off the EAP, which I am not sure I made the right decision on, but I can add that.

 

[MarkS22]

We know that there is a new 5 ghz wifi antenna as well as new bluetooth antenna likely for phone as a key feature from people who have taken limited pictures of their units.

Bluetooth key would be excellent if the antenna enables it. It's another one of those Model 3 features that'll help make the Model S feel more modern. I wonder if it'll improve Bluetooth phone call quality as well.

Do we know where the new 5Ghz antenna runs in the car? (I'm curious from am "ease of retrofit" standpoint.)

From the lighted vanity to faster MCU, 5Ghz, and possibly Bluetooth key, it does feel like we're seeing a slow-motion refresh to bring everything to be on par with (or better than) the Model 3. Good stuff. I wouldn't be completely surprised if this was all officially announced with a physical interior refresh of the dash, center console (to hold dual phones like the Model 3), and doors with more storage. It's a nice burst of progress on the S.

 

[Glap86]

Is that all we're hoping for out of the interior refresh? Dual phones and more storage in doors? I always hear about this rumored interior refresh but I assumed it would entail...more.

If those kinds of features are all we're waiting for, looks like they got the big stuff out of the way with the 5ghz, bluetooth, and updated MCU.

 

[MarkS22]

Is that all we're hoping for out of the interior refresh? Dual phones and more storage in doors? I always hear about this rumored interior refresh but I assumed it would entail...more.

If those kinds of features are all we're waiting for, looks like they got the big stuff out of the way with the 5ghz, bluetooth, and updated MCU.

What else would you want out of an interior refresh above a new dash/center console (along the lines of the Model 3 or 2020 Roadster) and the other interior improvements of the Model 3 (like door storage, coat hooks, sound system)? Isn't the dash/center console everything cosmetically? Maybe new seats with active bolsters and a HUD? I'd probably throw in the soft closing front doors of the Model X and better headlights, too. If it's more than the interior, I'd look to faster charging speeds (higher maximum amps) to distance itself from the Model 3 as well.

It's actually an interesting route. If they do refresh the appearance of the interior, but Bluetooth entry, new MCU, 5Ghz WiFi, and lighted vanities were already shipping 3-6 months before, it would make it much less painful for people who miss the cut off.

 

[kristofior]

Would someone have a video showing MCU1 with vector maps ?

Also, I have observed that
- the screen refresh frequency during navigation is exactly the same with/without satelitte view (so not a problem of slowdown displaying satelite bitmapped tiles)
- tiles are displayed at the speed of current LTE data speed, so how would the MCU2 download data faster on the same kind of LTE antenna ?

 

[evster]

If we're speculating, I'd say new features might include: the ability to show more robust camera views, like a 180 degree stitched view of multiple cameras. Or it could mean a streaming video player when parked (using HVC/H.264). Or enhanced sound processing, like we see on the Model 3. Or screen mirroring of your phone. Or a larger assortment of apps, like weather, stocks, or voice-activated text messaging. It could mean safety features, like Pre-Safe Sound from Mercedes which plays an 85db white noise immediately before an accident to protect the ears. It could mean better situational awareness with more accurate depictions of the vehicles on Autopilot's display that are 3D models instead of bitmaps that only have two angles.

I mean, that's just me thinking of a few things in three minutes. There are teams of people thinking of new ways to use the processing power available to them. My question back would be... why wouldn't they use the extra processing power?

Simple answer is because Tesla swapped this hardware piece in silence without updating any marketing material, design studio etc. This means that the feature sets will be kept intact between the two platforms. Also, the Model X/S will probably be updated in 1-3 years with new dashboard layout, new screen form factor, etc. At that point we will see new feature sets and completly separated UI, just like we see between X/S and Model 3 today. But until the next gen is out they will keep the X/S intact from a feature perspective. 5 years on the Tegra and the coming 1-3 on a slightly faster chipset. Reason for the new chipset is to get rid of the issue that the Model 3 UI processes faster than MCU1. Now they solved that shortcoming of the S/X and that will not be a shortcoming for the more expensive models anymore which it clearly has been for those considering ordering a new car.

Anything is possible with software and both you and I can come up with an endless list of new small tweaks they can do with the software to improve it. I mean, I would love to have an advance mode to tweak just about every setting, configure each menu individually with what information I would like to be shown etc.

If we see screen mirroring or a stitched 180 degree view these features will be pushed to both MCU1/MCU2. The difference being that it is a tad slower on MCU1, just like the back-up camera that takes a bit longer to be engaged on MCU1 than on MCU2. It's there, but a tad slower.

Just my two cents of course.

 

[HankLloydRight]

If we see screen mirroring or a stitched 180 degree view these features will be pushed to both MCU1/MCU2.

We won't have stitched 180 degree view (did you mean 360 degree view?) until there are front and side cameras installed. The AP cameras already there are optimized for Autopilot processing and not general human vision use.

And we know that front and side cameras aren't possible on MCU1, and only speculating that might be a future plug-in enhancement for MCU2.

So even if it is possible on MCU2, it's definitely NOT possible on MCU1.

 

[evster]

We won't have stitched 180 degree view (did you mean 360 degree view?) until there are front and side cameras installed. The AP cameras already there are optimized for Autopilot processing and not general human vision use.

And we know that front and side cameras aren't possible on MCU1, and only speculating that might be a future plug-in enhancement for MCU2.

So even if it is possible on MCU2, it's definitely NOT possible on MCU1.

Yes, sure I do realize that . I just took one of the examples of "ideas for coming features" that @MarkS22 wrote in the previous post , which I answered. My point with the post had nothing to do with this particular feature being realized or not, it was just about my view on why they will not announce different features for MCU2 that won't be available for MCU1.

 

[HankLloydRight]

This would be a good test to run on the MCU1 and MCU2 browsers to see what (if anything) actually changed under the covers.

The HTML5 test - How well does your browser support HTML5?

As I detailed in this post: Software Update 2018.10.4 the QtCarBrowser itself is identical in MCU1 vs MCU2. But that it's possible that some additional back-end support libraries were updated or compiled into the MCU2 browser that enabled some features not available in MCU1.

 

[MarkS22]

We won't have stitched 180 degree view (did you mean 360 degree view?) until there are front and side cameras installed. The AP cameras already there are optimized for Autopilot processing and not general human vision use.

And we know that front and side cameras aren't possible on MCU1, and only speculating that might be a future plug-in enhancement for MCU2.

So even if it is possible on MCU2, it's definitely NOT possible on MCU1.

Do we know if the Model 3 backup camera is an AP camera or just a low-cost traditional one? I ask because I’m wondering if the quality concerns are related to post processing an AP camera. I know AP is typically converted to black and white in a lower resolution.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I don't know about M3.

 

[MarkS22]

Simple answer is because Tesla swapped this hardware piece in silence without updating any marketing material, design studio etc.

They’ve never really discussed screen speed. I don’t think it makes a great bullet point for the general public.

(You could very well be right. I completely understand your logic. As you’ve noted, we’ll see.)

 

[MarkS22]

I don't know about M3.

I ask because I wonder if the Intel GPU is being used. Or, if it could be used to encode H264 for upcoming “dashcam” functionality. In theory, the Tegra might not have enough power to process and compress multiple video streams.

 

[Glap86]

What else would you want out of an interior refresh above a new dash/center console (along the lines of the Model 3 or 2020 Roadster) and the other interior improvements of the Model 3 (like door storage, coat hooks, sound system)? Isn't the dash/center console everything cosmetically? Maybe new seats with active bolsters and a HUD? I'd probably throw in the soft closing front doors of the Model X and better headlights, too. If it's more than the interior, I'd look to faster charging speeds (higher maximum amps) to distance itself from the Model 3 as well.

It's actually an interesting route. If they do refresh the appearance of the interior, but Bluetooth entry, new MCU, 5Ghz WiFi, and lighted vanities were already shipping 3-6 months before, it would make it much less painful for people who miss the cut off.

There’s not much I would want. Coat hooks are simple after market. Sound system I would do aftermarket anyway because stock will never be as good as what you can do after. Pockets collect junk in my cars, so I’m fine without it. The Evannex console is pretty decent from what I’ve heard.

I agree it makes a refresh of the interior less painful now that the MCU and 5 ghz are in. Everything else can be done after market.

I just thought that everyone was so hyped about the interior refresh and saying wait for it that we were expecting more than some pockets and $10 coathooks.

 

[MarkS22]

There’s not much I would want. Coat hooks are simple after market. Sound system I would do aftermarket anyway because stock will never be as good as what you can do after. Pockets collect junk in my cars, so I’m fine without it. The Evannex console is pretty decent from what I’ve heard.

I agree it makes a refresh of the interior less painful now that the MCU and 5 ghz are in. Everything else can be done after market.

I just thought that everyone was so hyped about the interior refresh and saying wait for it that we were expecting more than some pockets and $10 coathooks.

Yeah, I think, until the past two weeks, the MCU was a big (most requested?) part of the expected refresh.

 

[whitex]

.


Autopilot 1 depends on Mobileye. That hardware would also be in Autopilot 2 if they would have let Elon's plan progress. There is a blank CPU spot on the motherboard for Autopilot 2.0. If it were populated software development for Autopilot would have been considerably faster and could have been done in stages as they moved to newer hardware.

Are you really surprised Mobile Eye didn't let them do it? Elon was going to be the first to perpetrate a mass scale AI based IP heist. The theory is that you can "copy" or even "copy then improve" anyone's design by using someone else's product to train yours - this especially applies to systems with clean input (videos from cameras) and output (information about objects from the videos) such as vision systems. Think software, it's illegal for you to just copy and sell Windows or Tesla's firmware. However, the legal system has not caught up with AI yet, what if someone builds a neural network around your software and have it learn every possible behavior of that software, then release it as a competitor? In this case, Elon was going to train his neural network with MobileEye on a massive scale (10's of thousands of cars). The biggest roadblock in training neural networks today is the lack of training data, in the case of vision systems "labeled videos" which are simply videos with information where the object of interest in the video are. Elon was going to use MobileEye to produce such videos and use them to train the neural networks.

I am certain that if someone was trying to do the same to Tesla, they would not let them do it either. They already restrict who they sell their parts to today more than any other car manufacturer, so guaranteed if someone wanted to buy 50'000 of their DrivePX2 and cameras they'd stop them immediately, lawyers and all. Of course this would not happen until they have a well functioning system, but still, way cheaper to rip-off someone else's vision system than develop your own.

 

[Ron4pro]

So I picked up my Model S P100D, VIN 2476xx, manufactured week of March 5th. Went to whatsmyua.info ans got CPU undefined. I asked the DS if we could go in some of the Model S and Xs with March 12th build dates so we could run the same command and all were CPU undefined. DS felt I DID have mcu2. Not sure what to believe. One other note, double scroll wheel hard reboot worked which leads me to believe that it is the old MCU. Thoughts?

Also, all the displays seemed snappy. Especially on WiFi.

 

[outie]

What else would you want out of an interior refresh above a new dash/center console (along the lines of the Model 3 or 2020 Roadster) and the other interior improvements of the Model 3 (like door storage, coat hooks, sound system)? Isn't the dash/center console everything cosmetically? Maybe new seats with active bolsters and a HUD? I'd probably throw in the soft closing front doors of the Model X and better headlights, too. If it's more than the interior, I'd look to faster charging speeds (higher maximum amps) to distance itself from the Model 3 as well.

It's actually an interesting route. If they do refresh the appearance of the interior, but Bluetooth entry, new MCU, 5Ghz WiFi, and lighted vanities were already shipping 3-6 months before, it would make it much less painful for people who miss the cut off.

Better ambient lighting.