Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[2101Guy]

funny when people make the effort to make a post to tell others "im leaving this thread and not coming back".

Pretty interesting development. As a S100D HW2.5 with FSD - It seems I'll get the option to upgrade relatively soon. As with many others, the only concern is the loss of radio... I don't use it often - but do use it to listen to sports when I'm in the car.

Curious - are there other methods to listen to live sports if you don't have a radio? Most streaming services for radio blackout the live sports. I can't believe I'm the only one who still listens to live sports while in the car... What's the solution? Can I purchase a bluetooth radio and link it to the car? Is there a steaming service that includes live sports that I'm missing?

Have you tried the TuneIn service that's in the car? Has a lot of nationwide FM channels broadcasting through TuneIn

 

[Silicon Desert]

Id be embarrassed to have people in my car and explain “Tesla has this fancy system, but we can’t listen to the local football game”.

yea, that's funny. Thinking the same thing. It probably won't be a deal breaker for me to not have FM, yet there are times when it does come in handy that are outside of typical FM stations, like those local weather conditions announcements while traveling, the real estate announcements on homes for sale, and local home transmitters. My son is going to laugh at Christmas time if I need to carry a portable $10 FM radio in a $130,000 car to listen to those synchronized Christmas lights displays. He will probably insist we drive around in his 20 year old Toyota (worth about $1,500 now) which has a real FM radio.

 

[SO16]

Why in the heck should I have to load an app on my phone to listen to radio stations. I'd get laughed out of the car pool.

I agree it’s not ideal. But i really don’t give a crap what my carpool partners would think. Especially if I would have to ride in a POS when they drive. I highly doubt they’d kick you out of the carpool.

 

[Akikiki]

My family hates my mcu1 compared to my wife’s model 3 screen, to a point where they won’t ride with me. I’ve been waiting for this upgrade with my wallet wide open.

They won't ride with you? There will likely be MCU1 owners that will upgrade but not tell the family, so they can drive with the solitude they have earned. Sort of like this. Remember this recent Allstate commercial? I laughed so hard every time it played.

Allstate commercial:
It's okay that everybody ignores me when I drive. It's fine.

I get a safe driving bonus check every 6 month that I am accident free, because I don't use my cell phone
while I am driving. Even though my family does and leaves me all alone. Here's something else. I don't
share it with mom, I don't, right mom? I have a brand new putter you don't even know about. It's awesome.

Sometimes I leave the seat up on purpose. Hmmff.

 

[MP3Mike]

Whoever gets the next invitation to upgrade to MCU2, please ask the Service Center if you can purchase the Digital Tuner and have it installed at the same time they are replacing the MCU and AP? Also, please ask how much it costs to purchase the digital turner and the $$ to install it. I don't want to lose my AM/FM radios.

great idea. Does anyone know if the radio tuner is an inbuilt into the MCU as in soldered onto the same board and integrated beyond separation or is it a separate module that can be plugged in, and the software is there lying dormant in MCU2 just waiting for it to be plugged in ?

I expect a 0% chance of this working. The problem is that they haven't developed the necessary upgrade wiring harness to make it work. @kdday did custom wiring for his DIY upgrade which Tesla isn't likely to do. I don't know if they could just replace the old harness with the new harness but it would probably take a lot of labor.

So as a cost estimate: $280 for the tuner, 3 hours of labor @ $175/hour = ~$800 to keep the FM/XM tuner.

What I do wonder is if you retro-fit the new tuner yourself, or pay a 3rd party to do it, would Tesla flip the configuration bit and update your software to make it work?

 

[viper2ko]

I expect a 0% chance of this working. The problem is that they haven't developed the necessary upgrade wiring harness to make it work. @kdday did custom wiring for his DIY upgrade which Tesla isn't likely to do. I don't know if they could just replace the old harness with the new harness but it would probably take a lot of labor.

So as a cost estimate: $280 for the tuner, 3 hours of labor @ $175/hour = ~$800 to keep the FM/XM tuner.

What I do wonder is if you retro-fit the new tuner yourself, or pay a 3rd party to do it, would Tesla flip the configuration bit and update your software to make it work?

I can see people being upset about losing XM. FM I use but I could also use my bluetooth if I have to. I'm waiting 6000 miles until I hit 50k and am out of warrant. Then upgrading

 

[f205v]

For me the situation is the following, if I will upgrade:

things I will get:
- more games (never played a game in the car, I'm not interested)
- netflix and streaming (again, totally not interested in this feature, a complete waste of time)
- a more responsive touchscreen (mildly interested, MCU1 is slow but works anyway)
- a working browser (slightly more interested, waze and abetterrouteplanner would be interesting to have)
- probably a slightly inferior FSD (if and when I'll get an HW3 upgrade, because of the greyscale cameras)

thing I will not get:
- RGB cameras, therefore no real color sentry + recording

thing I will lose:
- FM radio (I listen to FM about 40-50% of the time, and NO, my favourite station is not available through streaming)
- $2500 + tax

All in all for me the deal is: a new browser for $2500. It's way overpriced, IMHO.

 

[brkaus]

funny when people make the effort to make a post to tell others "im leaving this thread and not coming back".


Have you tried the TuneIn service that's in the car? Has a lot of nationwide FM channels broadcasting through TuneIn

I have tried tunin. 2 out of 7 stations I listen to are available. Some are on radio.com, but Tesla doesn’t support directly and I don’t think the browser supports audio.

so, tunin -
- limited stations
- sound quality seams lower than HD radio, but that doesn’t bother me. Not an audiophile.
- Extra advertisements when I get in the car or change stations (not every time, but happens)
- additional latency when changing stations
- always getting better, but still some places I go don’t have cellular signal.

 

[Dario_75D]

thing I will not get:
- RGB cameras, therefore no real color sentry + recording

Why everybody keeps saying that? If you have FSD you'll get sentry and TeslaCam, full stop (at least this is what they wrote in the official website).
Nowhere is it written that you'll get a reduced-experience version.
If you have other sources, please explain where this is coming from.

 

[Akikiki]

I expect a 0% chance of this working. The problem is that they haven't developed the necessary upgrade wiring harness to make it work. @kdday did custom wiring for his DIY upgrade which Tesla isn't likely to do. I don't know if they could just replace the old harness with the new harness but it would probably take a lot of labor.

So as a cost estimate: $280 for the tuner, 3 hours of labor @ $175/hour = ~$800 to keep the FM/XM tuner.

What I do wonder is if you retro-fit the new tuner yourself, or pay a 3rd party to do it, would Tesla flip the configuration bit and update your software to make it work?

Mike, Krash speculated that the bit is already turned on. Probably default. He said he doesn't think they would maintain to different configurations - one with -one without. If it not there, it simply does not work. Makes sense to me.

Is that just a guess about the cost of the tuner? $280?

 

[Akikiki]

Anybody want to speculate as to the warranty on the upgrade and the screen that's on MCU2? 1 year? 4 years?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Kevin Bohacz]

I am excited about this MCU2 upgrade. I have one question or reservation. I have the 4 year extended warranty (ESA) for the car. I wonder if the upgraded MCU2 will be covered under the 4 year ESA. This MCU2 is not original equipment exactly, but it is installed by Tesla. I guess this falls into the gray zone, or is that the yellow-band zone ;-)

 

[MP3Mike]

Mike, Krash speculated that the bit is already turned on. Probably default. He said he doesn't think they would maintain to different configurations - one with -one without. If it not there, it simply does not work. Makes sense to me.

Is that just a guess about the cost of the tuner? $280?

That is what someone said it cost to buy from Tesla.

As far as the configuration I almost guarantee there is a configuration setting. It has to know if the module is supposed to be there so it knows if it can't talk that something is wrong. And also to not try to upgrade the firmware when a new one comes out. (There won't be a different software branch just an option in your cars HW configuration.)

 

[HankLloydRight]

For people lamenting the loss of AM/FM radio..

Just get this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9F61RX/

plus this: https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Receiver-Simultaneously/dp/B01EHSX28M/

Remarkably, I can't find any FM receivers with built-in BT transmitters. Lots of devices going BT->FM, but not FM->BT.

 

[THXULTRA]

For people lamenting the loss of AM/FM radio..

Just get this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9F61RX/

View attachment 517534

plus this: https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Receiver-Simultaneously/dp/B01EHSX28M/

View attachment 517536

hahah hey check out the radio in my car of the future

 

[MarcusMaximus]

A reminder to those complaining: You don’t actually have to buy the upgrade. Even for FSD, the only features you’ll be missing are some additional visualizations on the IC; something that was never promised to be part of it. You can feel free to keep your MCU1 if FM/AM/XM are that important to you.

 

[HankLloydRight]

hahah hey check out the radio in my car of the future

Heck, for $50, it might worth just having in case of national or weather emergency, road blockage announcements, drive-ins, or hark, sporting events.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Anybody want to speculate as to the warranty on the upgrade and the screen that's on MCU2? 1 year? 4 years?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I could swear I read it was 4 years yesterday but I'm not seeing that today. It does look like they've already updated the page and removed the Model 3 video that was there yesterday.

 

[Kevin Bohacz]

I am excited about this MCU2 upgrade. I have one question or reservation. I have the 4 year extended warranty (ESA) for the car. I wonder if the upgraded MCU2 will be covered under the 4 year ESA. This MCU2 is not original equipment exactly, but it is installed by Tesla. I guess this falls into the gray zone, or is that the yellow-band zone ;-)

Well that was fast... Tesla just answered my question. The new MCU2 is covered by the extended warranty.

 

[Akikiki]

Hank, you done it again to us. You take all the fun out of complaining about our Tesla.