Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[Dan Baldwin]

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+1

Agree completely. I'm 100% happy, might even spend a couple of hundred more to get the new tuner added as well. This restores my faith in Tesla. Short of including a free Roadster, I'm not sure how it could have made me happier. This is a perfect solution, and I'm in Canada, where it's not even mentioned/offered yet.

Thanks Tesla, you have at least the two of us here who are completely happy with what you are offering. You guys are the best.

I won't go so far as saying "you guys are the best", not by a long shot, however, I am very grateful for this upgrade opportunity and will do it as soon as possible. Like you, I'd spend a couple hundred more for the FM as well. I'm not sure what really goes on behind the curtain, but it sure does seem like , in this case, Tesla responded to what was asked for. I get that the loss of the tuner irks some people and I sympathize with them, but also now understand the reasoning behind the decision. I can sincerely say, Thank you Tesla !

 

[NarTaX]

I wonder if the AM/FM/XM radio would just work without any software changes if we managed to swap in the digital unit ourselves after the upgrade. I'm would to pay Tesla to get that done if they offered an option but I would also be willing to spend my weekend swapping that out myself.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

I wonder if the AM/FM/XM radio would just work without any software changes if we managed to swap in the digital unit ourselves after the upgrade. I'm would to pay Tesla to get that done if they offered an option but I would also be willing to spend my weekend swapping that out myself.

Maybe if @verygreen or someone could test that out? Presumably it should just be: unplug the tuner, start everything up, see what the software does. If it just shows up without the radio, then it’s at least highly likely they’d just go that route. Doesn’t make much sense to spend money adding software to disable FM radio regardless of what’s plugged in.

 

[verygreen]

Maybe if @verygreen or someone could test that out? Presumably it should just be: unplug the tuner, start everything up, see what the software does. If it just shows up without the radio, then it’s at least highly likely they’d just go that route. Doesn’t make much sense to spend money adding software to disable FM radio regardless of what’s plugged in.

it needs a gateway config change. something normal owner won't be able to do without Tesla help

 

[bob_p]

When we get the upgrade e-mail, will check with the service center on getting the MCU2 radio at the same time as the MCU2/FSD computer upgrades.

 

[MP3Mike]

I wonder if the AM/FM/XM radio would just work without any software changes if we managed to swap in the digital unit ourselves after the upgrade. I'm would to pay Tesla to get that done if they offered an option but I would also be willing to spend my weekend swapping that out myself.

In addition to the update to the gateway config the new digital tuner doesn't have AM.

 

[whitex]

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

Tesla features, warranties, timelines, terms, etc are always very fluid. Did you notice that "early April" now turned into "coming soon". We all know what "coming soon" means in Tesla vernacular - anyone got their SDK which was "coming soon" 7 years ago . As for warranty coverage, I did learn that with Tesla what is covered seems to be the more fluid part rather than duration. Drive Unit, sure 8 years, drive unit gaskets, nope, 4 years/50K miles only. MCU sure, MCU screen, 0 miles, 0 days. MCU features (e.g. browser) not covered at all. Etc, etc.

 

[whitex]

One thing you will "get" that is not listed and IMHO the most important, is the fix for the flash memory that will eventually brick your car once the read/writes hit their max. This whole thing is aggravating to me because in my opinion, Tesla should be fixing this design flaw on their dime. Instead they are tricking us into spending our own $2,500 for a list of "features" that really don't match the cost. All the while, mitigating their exposure on an item that should have been recalled because of some engineers inability to see into the future and when cheap on a part.

/vent off

You are of course assuming that MCU2 design doesn't have some other ticking time bomb in it. Or even the emmc, while larger, they write to it a lot more (videos from all cameras for black box function), who knows whether they properly implemented storage management, emmc refresh, whether they accounted for extreme temperatures or other things that don't occur in California. While streaming Netflix, are you sure they are not caching to emmc for example? Phones and tablets do it, but those devices have significantly lower expected lifecycle.

 

[whitex]

The key takeaway imho is that Tesla delivered this very much requested upgrade, against classic financial business logic.
I don’t know each and every car manufacturers, but the ones I know about do not provide much update, software or hardware to older cars.
That is against their business’ mission (i.e. make money), against potential new sales.

While I agree with you that this is not something that traditional automakers would do, I think the big difference is that Tesla sells unfinished products, so updates are required in order to deliver already paid for functionality. If a classic automaker had a $3,000 part fail after 4 years, there is a good change this would go to court and they'd be forced to pay to fix it, yet Tesla will probably get away with it due to their low volumes (specially MCU1 cars). Tesla model by no means falls under classic financial business logic of selling finished products and only then moving onto new products, so you can't judge it against that model.

 

[whitex]

Or maybe enjoy a few moment of silence and peace. Consider it a good thing... a mini-meditation.

So my MCU1 rebooting itself and taking 10 minutes to come back up is a feature - an opportunity for the driver to get closer to enlightenment?

 

[MarcusMaximus]

While I agree with you that this is not something that traditional automakers would do, I think the big difference is that Tesla sells unfinished products, so updates are required in order to deliver already paid for functionality. If a classic automaker had a $3,000 part fail after 4 years, there is a good change this would go to court and they'd be forced to pay to fix it, yet Tesla will probably get away with it due to their low volumes (specially MCU1 cars). Tesla model by no means falls under classic financial business logic of selling finished products and only then moving onto new products, so you can't judge it against that model.

In all fairness, the new functionality of the MCU2 wasn’t ever promised for MCU1. This is all brand new functionality nobody expected to get until they suddenly did.

And these features aren’t alone in that. Camper mode, dog mode, the basic Atari games, Spotify streaming, improved voice controls, sentry mode(both with recording for AP2.5+ and the more basic functionality for AP2.0), dashcam, etc. were all just pure, free, additions you’d never get from any other manufacturer.

 

[whitex]

Hmmmm, I guess the pessimists will interpret that as meaning later than April, and the Optimist will interpret it as sooner than April Another thing for us to debate

And a pragmatist will look at the ever growing list of "coming soon" features from Tesla, some dating back to 2013 and still not here, and then make an educated guess of what "coming soon" means when coming from Elon or Tesla.

 

[trm2]

Hmmmm, I guess the pessimists will interpret that as meaning later than April, and the Optimist will interpret it as sooner than April Another thing for us to debate

I believe April, but there is no year mentioned.

 

[whitex]

Yeah, well I was told just the opposite, twice, by people with access to extraordinary information.

Ok, so what you're saying is that it can be done, just not available to customers? So falls into the same bucket as upgrading a non-AP S85 car to SP100 (RWD) AP car (done by wk057, but of course not offered by Tesla)?

 

[whitex]

In all fairness, the new functionality of the MCU2 wasn’t ever promised for MCU1. This is all brand new functionality nobody expected to get until they suddenly did.

And these features aren’t alone in that. Camper mode, dog mode, the basic Atari games, Spotify streaming, improved voice controls, sentry mode(both with recording for AP2.5+ and the more basic functionality for AP2.0), dashcam, etc. were all just pure, free, additions you’d never get from any other manufacturer.

For non-FSD features, MCU2 is required to restore old functionality - browser, as well as speed up the UI to match v7 or v8.
For FSD functionality - visualizations. Unlike what some will tell you, it's not just "eye candy". Visualization aid humans supervise what FSD does by displaying what it "sees" and what it's planning to do. As long as Tesla requires human supervision, they are a part of core FSD functionality. Of course Tesla has yet to even offer HW3 to MCU1 customers, so as it stands today, MCU2 is required in order to get HW3 which is required for FSD, so bottom line is MCU2 is required for FSD.

 

[ucmndd]

For non-FSD features, MCU2 is required to restore old functionality - browser, as well as speed up the UI to match v7 or v8.
For FSD functionality - visualizations. Unlike what some will tell you, it's not just "eye candy". Visualization aid humans supervise what FSD does by displaying what it "sees" and what it's planning to do. As long as Tesla requires human supervision, they are a part of core FSD functionality. Of course Tesla has yet to even offer HW3 to MCU1 customers, so as it stands today, MCU2 is required in order to get HW3 which is required for FSD, so bottom line is MCU2 is required for FSD.

That level of contortion must require some serious flexibility

 

[MarcusMaximus]

For non-FSD features, MCU2 is required to restore old functionality - browser, as well as speed up the UI to match v7 or v8.
For FSD functionality - visualizations. Unlike what some will tell you, it's not just "eye candy". Visualization aid humans supervise what FSD does by displaying what it "sees" and what it's planning to do. As long as Tesla requires human supervision, they are a part of core FSD functionality. Of course Tesla has yet to even offer HW3 to MCU1 customers, so as it stands today, MCU2 is required in order to get HW3 which is required for FSD, so bottom line is MCU2 is required for FSD.

The browser has a significant new bug on MCU1, but does still exist, and performance is brought up to a level far beyond MCU1 was on any firmware. Having had v8, I don’t find the current software any slower. There have always been similar hesitations and low frame rates while scrolling. (And, of course, even MCU1 performance is far beyond anything on any other currently manufactured car)

The visualizations bit is absurd. Nobody was ever promised visualizations beyond what was on the car when they happened to get it. You may, personally, see them as being needed, but your personal belief has no bearing on what was promised.

 

[Trebek1762]

The browser has a significant new bug on MCU1, but does still exist, and performance is brought up to a level far beyond MCU1 was on any firmware .

Is this supposed to be MCU2 or MCU1?

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Is this supposed to be MCU2 or MCU1?

MCU1. There’s a relatively recent bug where it comes up with a white screen sometimes until you reboot. I presume that’s what he was talking about.

 

[swegman]

In all fairness, the new functionality of the MCU2 wasn’t ever promised for MCU1. This is all brand new functionality nobody expected to get until they suddenly did.

And these features aren’t alone in that. Camper mode, dog mode, the basic Atari games, Spotify streaming, improved voice controls, sentry mode(both with recording for AP2.5+ and the more basic functionality for AP2.0), dashcam, etc. were all just pure, free, additions you’d never get from any other manufacturer.

As someone that has a classic P85 that uses a MCU1 and a model 3 that uses a MCU2, I can say that I have never had a desire to have (use) camper mode, dog mode, basic Atari games, Spotify streaming, or improved voice controls in the Classic P85. In the model 3, the only feature used from your list is the dash cam, and only because I’m too lazy to install a better standalone dash cam. All I need voice commands for is for the navigation, which works fine in the MCU1. I have no interest to hear texts while driving, send texts while driving by speaking or using voice command to turn on/off the heat/AC, etc. Nor do I need to stream Netflix, Hulu, etc, which I don’t even have at home.

The browser ran just fine on the MCU1 when the car had version 7 and 8 firmware. The browser didn’t start to not work until version 9 firmware was installed.

All I desire is to have a working browser and the ability to have 3 windows open at the same time, which can be arranged as I desire, which one could do with firmware 7 and 8. Then I can have the Tesla navigation, Waze and the radio/usb/streaming (or rear view camera) on the screen at the same time.