Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[Dutchie]

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

I am not so sure yet, as the HW2.5 people who have been upgraded had MCU2

 

[Akikiki]

@whitex, shame on me. I think I missed your comment that you didn't get the original 8GB chip as a replacement. Now, all your posts make more sense to me. Thanks.

 

[brook90]

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.

What about nav routing/trip planning/re-routing speed between the two out of interest?

 

[whitex]

@whitex, shame on me. I think I missed your comment that you didn't get the original 8GB chip as a replacement. Now, all your posts make more sense to me. Thanks.

IMHO, if you're going to through the effort to change the EMMC, you might as well replace it with a chip which won't need replacing again. I went for the highest performance and reliability option I could find, Swissbit SFEM064GB1EA1TO-I-HG-111-E32 (64GB part, factory configured to 32GB pSLC) which costed me $77.38+tax. The cheapest replacement would have ran me probably ~$15, but to me the extra cost is well worth not having to worry about it ever again.

 

[brkaus]

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.

Is that true for a remanufactured unit?

 

[croman]

Is that true for a remanufactured unit?

Anything Tesla installs that is a "Touchscreen and microcontroller unit:" is "4 years" with no mileage limit.

Source: Vehicle Warranty

 

[EV-Fixme]

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.

I do random checks on some of the chips if they are sent in for preventive. My personal chip was down to 700k/s when I removed it. My 64 gig, just like @whitex gets 20-30M/s when testing, so roughly 20-40x faster.... The 32's pretty much get the same speed.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

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.

My thought is, for AP1 (or pre AP) owners, there is very little motivation to upgrade to MCU2 when it becomes available. Of course that is true only at this moment in time. This push by Tesla for upgrades is probably an indication that MCU1 is approaching end of life, and will not be updated further. For some, this is a good thing. But there could be new features added to MCU 2 down the road that might change the balance in favor up upgrading.

 

[whitex]

I do random checks on some of the chips if they are sent in for preventive. My personal chip was down to 700k/s when I removed it. My 64 gig, just like @whitex gets 20-30M/s when testing, so roughly 20-40x faster.... The 32's pretty much get the same speed.

20-30MB/s is consistent for MLC mode write speed of the EM-20 64GB part. I used the 32GB EM-26 series part which I don't remember exactly what write speed I got from dd but it was ~100MB/s (using USB3 reader connected to a PC with fast SSD), which jives with the datasheet number of 120MB/s sustained/ 160MB/s max (highlighted in yellow below). I also remember that the SD adapter on an old laptop speeds were slower - could have been my SD/MMC controller in an old laptop was limited, or the old SSD in the laptop might have been limiting the speed (copying an image from laptop to emmc). Here are performance tables from Swissbit datasheets.

You can increase your write numbers as much as 4.5x by re-configuring the chip to pSLC, at a cost of half the storage. It will improve the read speeds as well, though I did notice that EM-26 read speeds/IOPS are speced higher than EM-20 in pSLC mode, so there a benefit of buying the EM-26 factory configured to pSLC - there must be something they can improve on performance if they drop the possibility of MLC mode completely.

 

[Taj786]

20-30MB/s is consistent for MLC mode write speed of the EM-20 64GB part. I used the 32GB EM-26 series part which I don't remember exactly what write speed I got from dd but it was ~100MB/s (using USB3 reader connected to a PC with fast SSD), which jives with the datasheet number of 120MB/s sustained/ 160MB/s max (highlighted in yellow below). I also remember that the SD adapter on an old laptop speeds were slower - could have been my SD/MMC controller in an old laptop was limited, or the old SSD in the laptop might have been limiting the speed (copying an image from laptop to emmc). Here are performance tables from Swissbit datasheets.
View attachment 540426
You can increase your write numbers as much as 4.5x by re-configuring the chip to pSLC, at a cost of half the storage. It will improve the read speeds as well, though I did notice that EM-26 read speeds/IOPS are speced higher than EM-20 in pSLC mode, so there a benefit of buying the EM-26 factory configured to pSLC - there must be something they can improve on performance if they drop the possibility of MLC mode completely.

Impressive indeed. Now I'm curious to see what speeds can we attain on a reworked MCU2 unit. I'm certain as new feature sets (in-car entertainment options) are released with the rapid progression of FSD completion (more detailed visualizations and in-car video conference that Elon confirmed in his recent tweet) we'll be pushing the boundaries of the factory MCU2. I'm hoping (speculation) the Cybertruck most likely will feature MCU3 and next-gen FSD chip.

 

[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.

Dorky to quote myself, but to follow up - I had the appointment for my ‘17 MS scheduled for this Wednesday 5/13. Service called this morning and:

1) Confirmed my VIN is now eligible for the MCU2/AP3 upgrade (yes!)
2) Confirmed that the service would replace: Center display and MCU, the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, and upgrade the AP computer to AP3 (all good)
3) Confirmed total price of $2500
4) Ask to delay the service out +1 week to next Wednesday 5/20 at the request of their parts team to ensure that they had everything on-hand (a little disappointing, but a very reasonable request).

So - other than waiting an extra week everything sounds on-track to 5/20 for my MCU1/AP2 -> MCU2/AP3 upgrade.

 

[croman]

Dorky to quote myself, but to follow up - I had the appointment for my ‘17 MS scheduled for this Wednesday 5/13. Service called this morning and:

1) Confirmed my VIN is now eligible for the MCU2/AP3 upgrade (yes!)
2) Confirmed that the service would replace: Center display and MCU, the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, and upgrade the AP computer to AP3 (all good)
3) Confirmed total price of $2500
4) Ask to delay the service out +1 week to next Wednesday 5/20 at the request of their parts team to ensure that they had everything on-hand (a little disappointing, but a very reasonable request).

So - other than waiting an extra week everything sounds on-track to 5/20 for my MCU1/AP2 -> MCU2/AP3 upgrade.

My service center says they don't have the part in their system and want the last 6 of a VIN eligible and they'll look it up. Mind PMIng me your info? Thanks.

 

[Cirrus MS100D]

Dorky to quote myself, but to follow up - I had the appointment for my ‘17 MS scheduled for this Wednesday 5/13. Service called this morning and:

1) Confirmed my VIN is now eligible for the MCU2/AP3 upgrade (yes!)
2) Confirmed that the service would replace: Center display and MCU, the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, and upgrade the AP computer to AP3 (all good)
3) Confirmed total price of $2500
4) Ask to delay the service out +1 week to next Wednesday 5/20 at the request of their parts team to ensure that they had everything on-hand (a little disappointing, but a very reasonable request).

So - other than waiting an extra week everything sounds on-track to 5/20 for my MCU1/AP2 -> MCU2/AP3 upgrade.

Thanks for this info! I'm going to probably wait another couple of weeks and reach out to the new(er) Princeton, NJ SC about scheduling our July '17 AP2 / MCU1 with prepaid FSD upgrade for a "do it all" appointment for MCU2 and AP3.

Are you working with the Mt Kisco SC?

 

[rallykeeper]

fwiw, on Friday May 8, I tried booking my January 2017 S90D for both MCU2 and HW 3.0.

Alas, I got the usual 'your car is not yet eligible...wait for the email" response.

I'm not bothered too much by waiting -- except that my current MCU is incredibly buggy and presumably dying from a failing eMMC (and I'd rather just upgrade the MCU and get the FSD visualization than go through the eMMC upgrade process).

 

[MXFan]

A change to the Tesla infotainment page.
Infotainment Upgrade


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

 

[Richard34212]

I just received a call from our local SC that they have ordered the parts they need to upgrade our 2017 MS 75 AP2.0, MCU1 to AP3.0, MCU2. They expect to have the parts within a week and will then call back to schedule installation.

 

[kmob07]

Thanks for this info! I'm going to probably wait another couple of weeks and reach out to the new(er) Princeton, NJ SC about scheduling our July '17 AP2 / MCU1 with prepaid FSD upgrade for a "do it all" appointment for MCU2 and AP3.

Are you working with the Mt Kisco SC?

I am.

 

[Akikiki]

Good news being reported here. Looks like the frequency of MCU2 upgrades is increasing rapidly.

 

[SSonnentag]

I'm scheduled for a FSD v3 computer upgrade this Friday. No news yet on availability of MCU2 upgrades in my area.

 

[BigTonyTones]

20-30MB/s is consistent for MLC mode write speed of the EM-20 64GB part. I used the 32GB EM-26 series part which I don't remember exactly what write speed I got from dd but it was ~100MB/s (using USB3 reader connected to a PC with fast SSD), which jives with the datasheet number of 120MB/s sustained/ 160MB/s max (highlighted in yellow below). I also remember that the SD adapter on an old laptop speeds were slower - could have been my SD/MMC controller in an old laptop was limited, or the old SSD in the laptop might have been limiting the speed (copying an image from laptop to emmc). Here are performance tables from Swissbit datasheets.
View attachment 540426
You can increase your write numbers as much as 4.5x by re-configuring the chip to pSLC, at a cost of half the storage. It will improve the read speeds as well, though I did notice that EM-26 read speeds/IOPS are speced higher than EM-20 in pSLC mode, so there a benefit of buying the EM-26 factory configured to pSLC - there must be something they can improve on performance if they drop the possibility of MLC mode completely.

Is there a website you can recommend on where to learn and read about this subject? Im pretty familiar with linux and possibly the other things that this might involve.