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Reasons to hold out on upgrading HW2.5 to HW3?

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eethan

eethan

Member
Oct 19, 2018
59
42
California
#1
I purchased my 2018 M3 and it is still running HW2.5. Since I bought FSD, I get a free upgrade to HW3.

I've driven the Hertz rental car M3's running Autopilot on HW3 and observe little difference in Autopilot capability compared to my car.

Wondering if I should hold off on upgrading to HW3 for these reasons? -

1. HW3 is vision only and will no longer use my car's radars. Most significantly, my car cannot follow the car in front of it at a distance of only "1."
2. The MCU on my car may fail at some point. When it does so, I can request a HW3 upgrade and get the MCU replacement for "free." (Since any HW3 retrofit also replaces the MCU.)
3. Tesla may pair future HW3 units with only the Ryzen MCU. This will get me an upgraded MCU if I upgrade to HW3.

Are any of the above points valid? Anything I may have missed?
 
#2
3 isnt happening, since ryzen processors only go with heat pumps, and they are not retrofitting heat pumps in older Teslas.

1 and 2 are sorta valid but hardware 2.5 is pretty much a dead end. I did mine about 9-10 months after it was available, for my 2018 model 3P. What you dont want to have happen is Tesla to tell you "sorry we cant retrofit you with HW 3 as we no longer have those parts, we are only doing HW 4 and that isnt compatible with your vehicle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have no inside knowledge on this, but Tesla is absolutely capable of making such a statement, imo.

I would get it done, but thats my advice because I "did" choose to get it done already, a while ago.
 
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#3
jjrandorin said:
3 isnt happening, since ryzen processors only go with heat pumps, and they are not retrofitting heat pumps in older Teslas.

1 and 2 are sorta valid but hardware 2.5 is pretty much a dead end. I did mine about 9-10 months after it was available, for my 2018 model 3P. What you dont want to have happen is Tesla to tell you "sorry we cant retrofit you with HW 3 as we no longer have those parts, we are only doing HW 4 and that isnt compatible with your vehicle ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have no inside knowledge on this, but Tesla is absolutely capable of making such a statement, imo.

I would get it done, but thats my advice because I "did" choose to get it done already, a while ago.
Click to expand...
I would only add that I think Model 3 MCUs failing is a very rare event, unlike the old Model S MCUs which had a PROM that could only be rewritten a relatively small number of times.
 
#5
shahryaran said:
2021 SR with heat pump comes with Intel
Click to expand...
Sure, but there arent any ryzen processors without heat pumps (and octovalves), and 2018s dont have either. The point I was making is that the OP is not getting a ryzen processor into that 2018 Model 3, without possibly DIY ing it and changing multiple things that I dont think anyone has done yet.
 
#8
jmaddr said:
You paid the crazy 12k and are considering *not* getting what you paid for because of “might-happens” somewhere down the road?
Click to expand...
If they bought FSD in 2018 their total cost was not 12k. It was either 8k total (5k EAP + 3k FSD), 7k total (5kEAP or 2k FSD during a specific period in march / april of 2019) or for a well timed, few, perhaps 5-6k total (during that march / april 2019 time frame).
 
#13
If you held out this long, do not intend on purchasing/subscribing to FSD, and prefer to drive the car yourself - I'd vote to skip it, leave the car as it was designed and originally spec'ed.

Tesla master techs and engineering team confirmed HW3/3.1/3.5 retrofit to vintage (pre-Ryzen) 3s was never intended to happen... but forced by M and the vaporware push. The jerrryrig install instructions collaborate it.
 
#14
Perscitus said:
If you held out this long, do not intend on purchasing/subscribing to FSD, and prefer to drive the car yourself - I'd vote to skip it, leave the car as it was designed and originally spec'ed.

Tesla master techs and engineering team confirmed HW3/3.1/3.5 retrofit to vintage (pre-Ryzen) 3s was never intended to happen... but forced by M and the vaporware push. The jerrryrig install instructions collaborate it.
Click to expand...
Can you share more about why the HW3 retrofit install is "jerry-rigged?" Tesla doesn't do things in the neatest way, but I imagine that they have to at least meet regulatory standards.

And what is HW3.1 and HW3.5?
 
#15
Perscitus said:
Tesla master techs and engineering team confirmed HW3/3.1/3.5 retrofit to vintage (pre-Ryzen) 3s was never intended to happen... but forced by M and the vaporware push. The jerrryrig install instructions collaborate it.
Click to expand...


I mean, when HW3 was first reveled the designers of the thing literally said the opposite- that the fundamental requirement they were given before they began design was it MUST be a drop-in retrofit to HW2.x cars.

I think I'd believe them over a 3rd hand report on the internet claimed to be from "Tesla master techs and engineering team"
 
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#16
My $0.02 is that none of those are reasons to avoid getting the upgrade (which you paid for -- nothing is "free" -- it was just included in your FSD purchase.)

#1 - I don't understand the fear about radar removal. I just don't. Have 3 Teslae, none of them are using radar, and all are better than they've ever been at object detection. Not to say it's perfect - it isn't - but it's at least as good as radar+vision. Zero loss of function IMO.
#2 - Not getting done something that you've paid for because you want to "save" it in case an incredibly reliable part fails seems ... odd. That's not the route I would choose, but of the 3, it's the most rational.
#3 - not going to happen. For a myriad of reasons, some technical, some business.

I'd schedule the upgrade, get it done while you have the ability and someone at Tesla still knows what you're talking about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thp3 and DomDeWild
#17
eethan said:
I purchased my 2018 M3 and it is still running HW2.5. Since I bought FSD, I get a free upgrade to HW3.

I've driven the Hertz rental car M3's running Autopilot on HW3 and observe little difference in Autopilot capability compared to my car.

Wondering if I should hold off on upgrading to HW3 for these reasons? -

1. HW3 is vision only and will no longer use my car's radars. Most significantly, my car cannot follow the car in front of it at a distance of only "1."
2. The MCU on my car may fail at some point. When it does so, I can request a HW3 upgrade and get the MCU replacement for "free." (Since any HW3 retrofit also replaces the MCU.)
3. Tesla may pair future HW3 units with only the Ryzen MCU. This will get me an upgraded MCU if I upgrade to HW3.

Are any of the above points valid? Anything I may have missed?
Click to expand...
@eethan,

Can you elaborate a bit more on how you get or qualify for this free upgrade? I bought my 2018 LR RWD, mfg date 11/2018, from my neighbor, who purchased the FSD, which did successfully transfer over to me when I bought the car from him. After reading this thread, I went in to the service center today and asked them about a free upgrade from HW2.5 to HW3.0 since I have FSD. They guy looked up everything he knew how to look at, and he said it didn't show any outstanding upgrades or anything similar. So nothing he could see mentioned this free upgrade. Maybe I already have HW3.0...how can I know for sure?
 
#19
It shows as Intel Atom, so I guess that is MCU2 (HW2.5)? So I'm still curious how to go about requesting the upgrade, free or paid.
 

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