Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[croman]

Maybe they should call the service center that did @Akikiki's upgrade...

I wish, I told them about that but the contactless means it is even harder to communicate. They are rather disdainful of "forum" information. They get their marching orders from Fremont and it is clear Fremont didn't want this done I think.

They gave me a free MCU1 (my warranty had not fully expired when I scheduled my MCU2 upgrade) and I'll just wait now. I was really only rushing them because my MCU1 was dead. I'd like FSD but clearly Tesla needs the time to shake this out or is completely unwilling to help HW2 owners at this time. Either way, I'm not in control of this. They will not tell me what went wrong other than "my VIN is not eligible at this time" which is NOT what they said when they ordered the MCU2/HW3 kit and when I dropped off my car.

Regardless, it looks like there is a new MCU1 that is explicitly compatible with HW3. That should put to rest that MCU2 is required for HW3.

 

[MiddKid]

I wish, I told them about that but the contactless means it is even harder to communicate. They are rather disdainful of "forum" information. They get their marching orders from Fremont and it is clear Fremont didn't want this done I think.

They gave me a free MCU1 (my warranty had not fully expired when I scheduled my MCU2 upgrade) and I'll just wait now. I was really only rushing them because my MCU1 was dead. I'd like FSD but clearly Tesla needs the time to shake this out or is completely unwilling to help HW2 owners at this time. Either way, I'm not in control of this. They will not tell me what went wrong other than "my VIN is not eligible at this time" which is NOT what they said when they ordered the MCU2/HW3 kit and when I dropped off my car.

Regardless, it looks like there is a new MCU1 that is explicitly compatible with HW3. That should put to rest that MCU2 is required for HW3.

Sorry man. I gotta admit, when you replied to my post with this:

Mine is confirmed May 5th and Tesla has been sending me tracking on my HW3 part so it will happen soon.

My first reaction is "no way it's happening." I was hoping, for you, that I was wrong. At least they got your car running again.

I'm hearing chatter that we're looking at late summer for AP2.0 cars.

I've gotten to the point that I don't ever assume anything one person says at the Service Center will carry on to the next day/person. I've had the same repair done to my Falcon Wing door on my MX six times. And each time it's like starting from ground zero...and half of those times when I picked it up it's like the service manager never even spoke with the technician.

The infotainment wait continues...

 

[croman]

I'm waiting for more information about what happened. Something else is at play here but I'm just glad not to drive a busted $100k car. I am skeptical that the infotainment and HW3 was something that could not have been accomplished. The differences between MCU1/HW2.5 and MCU2/HW3 (without radar and steering column replacement) are negligible (extension of backup camera cables). I'll try to pry more info when I finally get my car (they are actually doing the MCU replacement now).

 

[brkaus]

I'm not convinced the one case of MCU1/HW2 -> MCU2/HW3 installation is a final solution.

 

[scottf200]

I'm not convinced the one case of MCU1/HW2 -> MCU2/HW3 installation is a final solution.

Meaning? Do you think it needs more hardware changes (ie. radar or cameras)?

 

[MiddKid]

I'm not convinced the one case of MCU1/HW2 -> MCU2/HW3 installation is a final solution.

I'm hearing this as well. AP2.0 upgrade solution is not yet final.

 

[croman]

I'm not convinced the one case of MCU1/HW2 -> MCU2/HW3 installation is a final solution.

Meaning? Do you think it needs more hardware changes (ie. radar or cameras)?

Frankly, I don't care about swapping the radar but maybe that is the issue for Tesla? The performance of the radars is negligible in my experience and after looking at their spec sheets, I don't really think that is a big issue for me (10m range delta but they also do slightly different things but Bosch is a proven commodity in my opinion).

The steering e-fuses and redundancies there are a bigger issue but that retrofit would be a bigger job. If that is what they are going to do, then I don't mind waiting because that would be a much better solution for everyone and I can understand waiting until last because it is a much more involved task than even the Model 3 (liquid cool). Otherwise we were made to wait for unfortunate reasons since we also gave Tesla payment first and now sit and watch new customers enjoy the features we paid for (though they do kind of suck at present).

Either way, HW2->3 clearly failed for me. They even gave me the bad news as 2 separate lines ("We could not do infotainment upgrade because your VIN is not eligible at this time" ". . .could not do FSD upgrade either". So I'm left with more questions now and no answers (and still no car).

One thing is certain, the new MCU1 I got says it is HW3 compatible (whatever that means since @verygreen already confirmed MCU1 is already HW3 compatible....).

 

[djcasava]

@djcasava, short of buying a new car, your best option is to upgrade the door speakers with something such as the light harmonic package, and add a separate subwoofer. The consensus is the premium audio in S isn't as good as the audio system in the 3. An aftermarket upgrade will probably sound better and also be more economical.

Thanks Tonglaji!

 

[brkaus]

Meaning? Do you think it needs more hardware changes (ie. radar or cameras)?

Nothing in particular, just a gut feel. Maybe even just software and it isn’t ready yet. For example does hw3 need specific training for the camera/radar combo?

I really don’t know, but I cannot see Tesla holding it back if it was really done and qualified.

 

[Nosken]

Frankly, I don't care about swapping the radar but maybe that is the issue for Tesla? The performance of the radars is negligible in my experience and after looking at their spec sheets, I don't really think that is a big issue for me (10m range delta but they also do slightly different things but Bosch is a proven commodity in my opinion).

The steering e-fuses and redundancies there are a bigger issue but that retrofit would be a bigger job. If that is what they are going to do, then I don't mind waiting because that would be a much better solution for everyone and I can understand waiting until last because it is a much more involved task than even the Model 3 (liquid cool). Otherwise we were made to wait for unfortunate reasons since we also gave Tesla payment first and now sit and watch new customers enjoy the features we paid for (though they do kind of suck at present).

Either way, HW2->3 clearly failed for me. They even gave me the bad news as 2 separate lines ("We could not do infotainment upgrade because your VIN is not eligible at this time" ". . .could not do FSD upgrade either". So I'm left with more questions now and no answers (and still no car).

One thing is certain, the new MCU1 I got says it is HW3 compatible (whatever that means since @verygreen already confirmed MCU1 is already HW3 compatible....).

Thanks for keeping us updated. I am curious if the new MCU1 with AP3 will have any additional features when available?

 

[brook90]

Thanks for the plug @kdday. I didn't make it. I got the prototype to test. We still need to confirm via the SC activating my radio to insure it works. (That's another story). As a matter of fact while preparing the first one, Teslatap depended on your photo of how to wire it. We/he hopes he's right.

It won't be available for sale, (if then), until we are sure it works. And I know, he's not making any money from selling them considering the effort and material. He's just working to help the community.

Having just done the MCU2 retrofit myself with a huge amount of help from a couple of members on here, I also made up a harness for tuner2 and can verify the pinout/connections from Teslatap do work (caveat: I created mine with the help of @kdday prior to the Teslatap article so it doesn't include the 3D printed back or the LED, so can't vouch for those). I also loom taped mine to make it a bit more OEM. I was regularly swapping back between mcu2 and mcu1 (and tuner1/tuner2) and the harness made it a simple unplug/replug:

 

[croman]

I'm waiting for more information about what happened. Something else is at play here but I'm just glad not to drive a busted $100k car. I am skeptical that the infotainment and HW3 was something that could not have been accomplished. The differences between MCU1/HW2.5 and MCU2/HW3 (without radar and steering column replacement) are negligible (extension of backup camera cables). I'll try to pry more info when I finally get my car (they are actually doing the MCU replacement now).

Still no car or communication with Service regarding when I'll get it or what it will have. Last I heard MCU2/HW3 failed for unknown reasons and MCU1 was ordered and was going to be installed yesterday.

Now that the infotainment upgrade page is changed to HW2.0 scheduling now -- I am really curious why they failed with mine?

When will the Infotainment Upgrade be available for me?
Model S and Model X owners will be invited in groups based on their Autopilot Computer and feature configurations.

Configuration Beginning Availability
Autopilot Computer 2.5 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
Autopilot Computer 2.0 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
All remaining Model S and Model X owners Coming Soon
*Currently limited to US only at this time. Other regions to be announced.

Infotainment Upgrade

 

[Cheburashka]

Still no car or communication with Service regarding when I'll get it or what it will have. Last I heard MCU2/HW3 failed for unknown reasons and MCU1 was ordered and was going to be installed yesterday.

Now that the infotainment upgrade page is changed to HW2.0 scheduling now -- I am really curious why they failed with mine?

When will the Infotainment Upgrade be available for me?
Model S and Model X owners will be invited in groups based on their Autopilot Computer and feature configurations.

Configuration Beginning Availability
Autopilot Computer 2.5 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
Autopilot Computer 2.0 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
All remaining Model S and Model X owners Coming Soon
*Currently limited to US only at this time. Other regions to be announced.

Infotainment Upgrade

And people on TMC are still arguing that Tesla communication isn't all that bad.

So far we still have only one person that has gotten this upgrade on TMC, and seems like everyone else is being denied.

 

[KyleDay]

Still no car or communication with Service regarding when I'll get it or what it will have. Last I heard MCU2/HW3 failed for unknown reasons and MCU1 was ordered and was going to be installed yesterday.

Now that the infotainment upgrade page is changed to HW2.0 scheduling now -- I am really curious why they failed with mine?

When will the Infotainment Upgrade be available for me?
Model S and Model X owners will be invited in groups based on their Autopilot Computer and feature configurations.

Configuration Beginning Availability
Autopilot Computer 2.5 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
Autopilot Computer 2.0 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
All remaining Model S and Model X owners Coming Soon
*Currently limited to US only at this time. Other regions to be announced.

Infotainment Upgrade

I wonder if your mcu2/hw3 update failed because Tesla forgot to update either the “dashw4” (FSD computer config) or autopilotcameratype 1 (Hw2.0 RCCC cameras) on the gateway. My upgrade to hw3 didn’t work until both of those were done.

 

[croman]

I wonder if your mcu2/hw3 update failed because Tesla forgot to update either the “dashw4” (FSD computer config) or autopilotcameratype 1 (Hw2.0 RCCC cameras) on the gateway. My upgrade to hw3 didn’t work until both of those were done.

Too bad this is on the forum instead of a Tesla service manual. Day 4 might bring me luck.

 

[emir-t]

Most technicians unfortunately lack the linux knowledge required to actually service/repair/restore Tesla's software. Instead they have UI versions like Toolbox, which technicians rely on. In new cases like the MCU2 retrofit, if the UI technician is as I've described, they might not even know the logic of changing a gateway config. If the UI tool doesn't change it, they don't have technical abilities to dig deep like some enthusiasts and 'hackers' do. Department for the ones who do is called engineering I think.

Maybe someone who has seen how their service is setup from within could elaborate but this is my .02$

 

[azred]

Still no car or communication with Service regarding when I'll get it or what it will have. Last I heard MCU2/HW3 failed for unknown reasons and MCU1 was ordered and was going to be installed yesterday.

Now that the infotainment upgrade page is changed to HW2.0 scheduling now -- I am really curious why they failed with mine?

When will the Infotainment Upgrade be available for me?
Model S and Model X owners will be invited in groups based on their Autopilot Computer and feature configurations.

Configuration Beginning Availability
Autopilot Computer 2.5 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
Autopilot Computer 2.0 with Full Self-Driving Capability Scheduling Now
All remaining Model S and Model X owners Coming Soon
*Currently limited to US only at this time. Other regions to be announced.

Infotainment Upgrade

While I fortunately don’t have a failing MCU1, boredom has caused me to try to schedule these upgrades for my 2.0 S a couple times! When “by April 30” was the timeline I made an April 30 appointment to get the MCU2/HW3 updates. On about April 29, the dates were bumped to late May and I was advised by my SC to try rescheduling again in late May. Now barely a week later Tesla is supposedly scheduling 2.0 cars so I made another appointment for next week.

 

[am_dmd]

Me too, out of boredom, tried to schedule HW3 upgrade only for my AP2/MCU1 and as expected was cancelled. This is the reply I got - "At this time, Full Self driving retrofit is not available for the Auto Pilot package that is on your Tesla. We do not have an estimated date of arrival for the parts. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause. We can move forward with cancelling your appointment until the parts become available. We would advise to check back in a few weeks. Please verify that you have received this message. Thank you"
I am not interested in MCU2. Heck I am willing to pay for v8 instead of MCU2. However I do want FSD computer and if MCU1 is not compatible then it's not my problem but Tesla's.

 

[outdoors]

Next version of MCU will be MCU-YOU

Yes I know if the MCU is kaput I doubt it would show on app.

 

[brkaus]

Next version of MCU will be MCU-YOU
View attachment 539828
Yes I know if the MCU is kaput I doubt it would show on app.

Words selected carefully. Screen failure only.