Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[Taj786]

Yes!!! I scheduled the infotainment upgrade (2017 Model X AP2 + MCU1) this afternoon (May 8th) for next week (May 14th) along with the HW3 (FSD computer) retrofit via the Tesla app and several hours later I got notification that Tesla has confirmed by appointment and preparing for the service visit. Tesla also emailed me a pre-auth form and this looks very exciting, finally. This has been my 5th attempt since early March when they announce the the infotainment service. Looking forward to the upgrade and FSD computer. Estimated work order attached for SC in Plano, TX.

P.S. Now I’m having thought about if I need to get the digital FM tuner pre-installed prior to my service visit next week, so I can maintain my XM/FM functionality. Thought/suggestion?!

 

[MP3Mike]

P.S. Now I’m having thought about if I need to get the digital FM tuner pre-installed prior to my service visit next week, so I can maintain my XM/FM functionality. Thought/suggestion?!

The one person that has tried to get Tesla to activate a tuner they installed themselves was denied. So it is doubtful that pre-installing it will make any difference.

 

[Cirrus MS100D]

Yes!!! I scheduled the infotainment upgrade (2017 Model X AP2 + MCU1) this afternoon (May 8th) for next week (May 14th) along with the HW3 (FSD computer) retrofit via the Tesla app and several hours later I got notification that Tesla has confirmed by appointment and preparing for the service visit. Tesla also emailed me a pre-auth form and this looks very exciting, finally. This has been my 5th attempt since early March when they announce the the infotainment service. Looking forward to the upgrade and FSD computer. Estimated work order attached for SC in Plano, TX.

P.S. Now I’m having thought about if I need to get the digital FM tuner pre-installed prior to my service visit next week, so I can maintain my XM/FM functionality. Thought/suggestion?!

Positive sign they appear to have documented everything correctly, now remains to be seen if they can and are able to actually do it! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Akikiki]

P.S. Now I’m having thought about if I need to get the digital FM tuner pre-installed prior to my service visit next week, so I can maintain my XM/FM functionality. Thought/suggestion?!

Congratulations. You are going to be very happy together. Just for the fun of it, how would you go about getting the digital FM tuner installed if you were before your MCU2 install?

 

[Taj786]

The one person that has tried to get Tesla to activate a tuner they installed themselves was denied. So it is doubtful that pre-installing it will make any difference.

Ahh man that’s shucks. I was afraid that might be the case. Seems like will have to do some post upgrade shenanigans.

Positive sign they appear to have documented everything correctly, now remains to be seen if they can and are able to actually do it! Good luck and keep us posted!

Very positive indeed. I’m certain Plano SC will come through. They’ve got pretty high success record and positive reputation here in North Dallas. I’ll be in constant communication with them and post the progress updates.

Congratulations. You are going to be very happy together. Just for the fun of it, how would you go about getting the digital FM tuner installed if you were before your MCU2 install?

Yes! I’m finally gonna be joining the club. As far as the digital tuner upgrade, I was planning on following the TeslaTap guide outlined here FM/XM Radio for the MCU2 Upgrade | TeslaTap

Btw, much appreciate your (and others) contribution to the article and process validation.

 

[brook90]

Congratulations. You are going to be very happy together. Just for the fun of it, how would you go about getting the digital FM tuner installed if you were before your MCU2 install?

If US Model X’s have the same tuner location/area as EU/UK ones then it is very difficult to swap out tuner1 to tuner2, totally different to Model S - I can definitely see why Tesla don’t want the hassle of doing it, especially for cars with Premium Audio (the amp sits behind the tuner on the same bracket/cage).

The Service Manual describes the process as quite simple but the tuner “cage” is just not removable from the area it is in without removing major parts of the car, or removing the entire dash - difficult to describe without pictures but I did document the process and take photos if others want me to write it up properly. Basically on RHD/UK cars you have to remove the accelerator (gas) pedal, OBD2 port, various cable support trees and bottom cage bracket, unbolt/unscrew the cage from the chassis, rotate the cage in its limited area to get access to the screws on both sides to unscrew tuner1, then slide out tuner1 past where the pedal was, insert tuner2 and rotate the cage again to screw in tuner2... It took a good couple of hours of working out and cut hands!

 

[MXFan]

It took a good couple of hours of working out and cut hands!

As little as I use FM, these comments (and others) have finally made my decision for me. I can live without FM radio!

 

[brook90]

As little as I use FM, these comments (and others) have finally made my decision for me. I can live without FM radio!

I think if someone had told me how to do it, it would only have taken 30-40 minutes. Must say I would have missed not having it (plus I use FM plus RDS to get audio and now playing data from my AppleTV via @bearbu’s HDMI adaptor).

This is where the tuner is on MX for info:

 

[kmob07]

I have a Feb ‘17 Model S90D with AP2 (and FSD) with MCU1. With the update to the website, I scheduled an MCU2 / AP3 upgrade for later this week at my local service center. Fingers crossed - I’ll follow up here.

 

[whitex]

Can you do a video to show the increased speed?

If I can keep the MCU1 with increased speed, that would significantly reduce cost and allow me to keep my LH amp.

Makes sense that the bottleneck is the memory speed since people have previously stated the Tegra should be handing it without the hiccups that we all experience.

Ok, so I spent a few minutes going between MCU1 (with brand new, fast emmc) and MCU2 (2 years old) cars comparing performance. Here is what I found:

1. UI speed, the time it takes for menu windows such as controls or climate to show up, almost indistinguishable between the two MCUs (I'd have to video and count frames, which I'm not willing to spend time on)
2. Map scroling - the actual speed with which I can move the map around is similar, map lags begind the finger a little more on MCU1, but it took going back and forth between cars to notice that MCU2 is faster
3. Map refill - you can definitely see the difference there, I had both cars on WiFi (MCU1 on 2.4GHz and MCU2 on 5GHz so faster max speed). MCU1 took 2-3x the time to refill the map with new information - on MCU2 is was usually under a second to refill, on MCU1 between 1-2 seconds, more if I scrolled fast to a whole new area. At speed on a highway however, even very zoomed auto-scroll fills in seamlessly following the car's location.
4. Media player - both have responsive UI (see #1 above) except MCU2 took longer to switch between streaming channels. MCU1 took less than a second to start streaming new selection, while MCU sat there spinning the wheel for 2-3 seconds - maybe it caches more before it starts streaming, or maybe a different media player built on new towers of abstraction web tech on MCU2?
5. Browser - here is where you see the biggest difference. MCU2 is way faster, though not as fast as an iPad or premium Android device. MCU2 is at least 3-4 times faster to load pages like Tesla.com (neither is iPad fast). Google.com loads in 1-2 seconds on MCU1, under a second on MCU2. I guess the good news is that MCU1 browser does work with new emmc. It loaded tesla waze in 3-4 seconds - very usable while driving.

So, for me personally, MCU2 for $2,500 is definitely not worth the money. It would be cheaper to buy a premium tablet with cellular data to keep myself entertained while supercharging, than upgrade to MCU2 (even assuming free premium data would stay). Of course, worth is always relative "to whom", so everyone makes their own decisions on that.

 

[ucmndd]

Ok, so I spent a few minutes going between MCU1 (with brand new, fast emmc) and MCU2 (2 years old) cars comparing performance. Here is what I found:

1. UI speed, the time it takes for menu windows such as controls or climate to show up, almost indistinguishable between the two MCUs (I'd have to video and count frames, which I'm not willing to spend time on)
2. Map scroling - the actual speed with which I can move the map around is similar, map lags begind the finger a little more on MCU1, but it took going back and forth between cars to notice that MCU2 is faster
3. Map refill - you can definitely see the difference there, I had both cars on WiFi (MCU1 on 2.4GHz and MCU2 on 5GHz so faster max speed). MCU1 took 2-3x the time to refill the map with new information - on MCU2 is was usually under a second to refill, on MCU1 between 1-2 seconds, more if I scrolled fast to a whole new area. At speed on a highway however, even very zoomed auto-scroll fills in seamlessly following the car's location.
4. Media player - both have responsive UI (see #1 above) except MCU2 took longer to switch between streaming channels. MCU1 tool less than a second to start streaming new selection, while MCU sat there spinning the wheel for 2-3 seconds - maybe it caches more before it starts streaming, or maybe a different media player built on new towers of abstraction web tech on MCU2?
5. Browser - here is where you see the biggest difference. MCU2 is way faster, though not as fast as an iPad or premium Android device. MCU2 is at least 3-4 times faster to load pages like Tesla.com (neither is iPad fast). Google.com loads in 1-2 seconds on MCU1, under a second on MCU2. I guess the good news is that MCU1 browser does work with new emmc. It loaded tesla waze in 3-4 seconds - very usable while driving.

So, for me personally, MCU2 for $2,500 is definitely not worth the money. It would be cheaper to buy a premium tablet with cellular data to keep myself entertained while supercharging, than upgrade to MCU2 (even assuming free premium data would stay). Of course, worth is always relative "to whom", so everyone makes their own decisions on that.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. I’ve been seriously considering getting the emmc swap done while I’m in pandemic mode and driving almost zero. I also see little value in paying $2500 for MCU2, but had considered just letting the current unit die at some point and paying for the upgrade whenever that happens.

If the performance with properly operating flash is that much better, that seems like the better option for me. I don’t give a squirt about the browser or Netflix and am loathe to lose FM radio as about 20 miles of my normal commute has no cell service at all.

 

[Akikiki]

@whitex, very good report. We all owe you for taking your time and putting the report together. Thanks.

If I understand correctly, the MCU1 had a freshly installed eMMC? I don't want to impose on you. I wonder what this same effort would look like when the MCU1 is one year used and then again, two years used. Even if MCU2 is accordingly three and four years old.

 

[Tes La Ferrari]

Ok, so I spent a few minutes going between MCU1 (with brand new, fast emmc) and MCU2 (2 years old) cars comparing performance. Here is what I found:

1. UI speed, the time it takes for menu windows such as controls or climate to show up, almost indistinguishable between the two MCUs (I'd have to video and count frames, which I'm not willing to spend time on)
2. Map scroling - the actual speed with which I can move the map around is similar, map lags begind the finger a little more on MCU1, but it took going back and forth between cars to notice that MCU2 is faster
3. Map refill - you can definitely see the difference there, I had both cars on WiFi (MCU1 on 2.4GHz and MCU2 on 5GHz so faster max speed). MCU1 took 2-3x the time to refill the map with new information - on MCU2 is was usually under a second to refill, on MCU1 between 1-2 seconds, more if I scrolled fast to a whole new area. At speed on a highway however, even very zoomed auto-scroll fills in seamlessly following the car's location.
4. Media player - both have responsive UI (see #1 above) except MCU2 took longer to switch between streaming channels. MCU1 took less than a second to start streaming new selection, while MCU sat there spinning the wheel for 2-3 seconds - maybe it caches more before it starts streaming, or maybe a different media player built on new towers of abstraction web tech on MCU2?
5. Browser - here is where you see the biggest difference. MCU2 is way faster, though not as fast as an iPad or premium Android device. MCU2 is at least 3-4 times faster to load pages like Tesla.com (neither is iPad fast). Google.com loads in 1-2 seconds on MCU1, under a second on MCU2. I guess the good news is that MCU1 browser does work with new emmc. It loaded tesla waze in 3-4 seconds - very usable while driving.

So, for me personally, MCU2 for $2,500 is definitely not worth the money. It would be cheaper to buy a premium tablet with cellular data to keep myself entertained while supercharging, than upgrade to MCU2 (even assuming free premium data would stay). Of course, worth is always relative "to whom", so everyone makes their own decisions on that.

thanks @whitex very informative post.

so can someone with fsd upgrade to ap3 but still keep mcu1 ?

Or do you have to pay the $2500 for a new mcu2 in order to get the latest ap3 computer?

 

[RandyS]

Good info...I'll be upgrading my 2013 P85 when the time comes just because of bubbles in the screen...The eMMC is fine for now, but I know that's on borrowed time...The extra performance is just a bonus...

 

[croman]

thanks @whitex very informative post.

so can someone with fsd upgrade to ap3 but still keep mcu1 ?

Or do you have to pay the $2500 for a new mcu2 in order to get the latest ap3 computer?

MCU2 is not needed for FSD features but will have limited visualizations. HW2.5 owners getting FSD now without MCU2.

 

[kavyboy]

I'm getting an MCU replaced now. It's MCU1/AP1. It's going to be replaced with a reman. It just occurred to me, all these updates are probably resocking the MCU1 supply lines for reman buyers ($1600) like me, and I doubt the eMMCs are going to be pulled and refreshed with resoldered new ones. I'm probably buying a half-dead MCU, aren't I?

 

[croman]

I'm getting an MCU replaced now. It's MCU1/AP1. It's going to be replaced with a reman. It just occurred to me, all these updates are probably resocking the MCU1 supply lines for reman buyers ($1600) like me, and I doubt the eMMCs are going to be pulled and refreshed with resoldered new ones. I'm probably buying a half-dead MCU, aren't I?

If it is out of warranty you get 4 year unlimited mile warranty on it at least. So you won't have to pay again for some time.

 

[kavyboy]

If it is out of warranty you get 4 year unlimited mile warranty on it at least. So you won't have to pay again for some time.

Thanks that makes me feel better, actually. Plus, if that's the case, they do have an incentive to pull the eMMCs. So that's good, too.

 

[whitex]

@whitex, very good report. We all owe you for taking your time and putting the report together. Thanks.

If I understand correctly, the MCU1 had a freshly installed eMMC? I don't want to impose on you. I wonder what this same effort would look like when the MCU1 is one year used and then again, two years used. Even if MCU2 is accordingly three and four years old.

I don't have any videos of before the emmc replacement, but it was noticeably slower before the replacement (and annoying random reboots which sometimes took a good few minutes to recover). As for my new emmc aging, the chip I put in my car is so overspeced that the emmc over the next 14 years will degrade the same as than the original chip did in its first 6 months of life (for more details on that see this post), so I really don't have to worry about again.

If you want speed numbers to estimate the degradation curve, you could check with the folks like @EV-Fixme who perform replacements, I believe Tony does test the speeds of the chips he takes off to see how degraded it was.

 

[whitex]

thanks @whitex very informative post.

so can someone with fsd upgrade to ap3 but still keep mcu1 ?

Or do you have to pay the $2500 for a new mcu2 in order to get the latest ap3 computer?

According to Tesla, it will be possible, someday. Check the upgrade threads to see if anyone with MCU1 got AP3 without paying for MCU2 (also note whether it was from AP2.0 or AP2.5 too).