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Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

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MS2015, 85D here. I dropped her off on Friday in NJ for the infotainment upgrade and radio upgrade at $500 was available if I wanted. Only adds FM and SXM. I declined for now. Want to spend some time without it to see if I really need to spend the $$.
 
MS2015, 85D here. I dropped her off on Friday in NJ for the infotainment upgrade and radio upgrade at $500 was available if I wanted. Only adds FM and SXM. I declined for now. Want to spend some time without it to see if I really need to spend the $$.
I guess having FM/AM depends on the data coverage where you mostly drive.

Listening only to TuneIn or Spotify the last 5+ years, showed me that Belgium has definitely improved: there is almost zero 3G/LTE "dead zone" in the country.

BUT, twice a year, when we travel across France, or even Germany, there are large areas with poor or no 3G/LTE. Typically between the larger cities. In those areas, navigation also stops updating the maps displayed both in IC and MCU.
When we're there, I happily listen to FM.
Using my smartphone is not an alternative, as I noticed I also have no coverage, even though I have another provider.

I see two options: either drive without music, or listen to stored music on my phone or a USB key.

I do understand that the industry is pushing towards more digital, and thus FM should go, but in the Europe I travel, we're not there yet.
 
Question to those without AP or with AP1, who did the MCU2 upgrade. (*)

I read above, right after doing the upgrade, there are many positive reactions: mainly because of the much more reactive MCU, and a little for the added entertainment (Video apps & Games).
But in the end, there will be no really useful new feature while driving (no Sentry anyway, no better AP visual...). The new entertainment are nice when not driving, but really, even when traveling, we don't wait in the car.

Here is my question: after the wow moment of having the new faster "toy" has passed, are you still happy you made such an expense ?

I mean, let's compare to my smartphone.
I used to switch asap iPhones: the newer phone was zippy again, and added some cool new feature (eg touchID).
But honestly, after a few days, I have to face it: it's just doing whatever it always did for me: phone, calendar, internet and some apps that works no differently than on the older one.
I'm still keeping my iPhone7, even with iOS 14: my Wife's new XR is definitely faster, and FaceID is cool, but basically: what I just wrote above.

So, what is your honest opinion on MCU2 for PreAP or AP1 cars?

(*) I definitely would do MCU2 if I had AP2 or above, as MCU1 is severely slowed down by AP2 and above, and also brings improved/fix features to Sentry etc...
 
Question to those without AP or with AP1, who did the MCU2 upgrade. (*)

I read above, right after doing the upgrade, there are many positive reactions: mainly because of the much more reactive MCU, and a little for the added entertainment (Video apps & Games).
But in the end, there will be no really useful new feature while driving (no Sentry anyway, no better AP visual...). The new entertainment are nice when not driving, but really, even when traveling, we don't wait in the car.

Here is my question: after the wow moment of having the new faster "toy" has passed, are you still happy you made such an expense ?

I mean, let's compare to my smartphone.
I used to switch asap iPhones: the newer phone was zippy again, and added some cool new feature (eg touchID).
But honestly, after a few days, I have to face it: it's just doing whatever it always did for me: phone, calendar, internet and some apps that works no differently than on the older one.
I'm still keeping my iPhone7, even with iOS 14: my Wife's new XR is definitely faster, and FaceID is cool, but basically: what I just wrote above.

So, what is your honest opinion on MCU2 for PreAP or AP1 cars?

(*) I definitely would do MCU2 if I had AP2 or above, as MCU1 is severely slowed down by AP2 and above, and also brings improved/fix features to Sentry etc...

I think the difference in that analogy is even when switching phones the older phones generally still have the same or good functionality. Whereas MCU1 no longer works like it used to. Navigation is useless, voice commands don't work, browser has gotten worse, constant freezes or reboots
 
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I think the difference in that analogy is even when switching phones the older phones generally still have the same or good functionality. Whereas MCU1 no longer works like it used to. Navigation is useless, voice commands don't work, browser has gotten worse, constant freezes or reboots


It was ap 2.5. i have ap3/mcu1 now

Yes, thanks for clarifying.

My question is really for AP1 or PreAP owners: MCU1 experience with AP2 and above cannot be compared to AP1 or PreAP.
Except the browser which is basically useless, all that you mentioned works ok for me. (voice, nav, Spotify, ...)
 
I think the difference in that analogy is even when switching phones the older phones generally still have the same or good functionality. Whereas MCU1 no longer works like it used to. Navigation is useless, voice commands don't work, browser has gotten worse, constant freezes or reboots
This happened after you had the new FSD computer installed? Seems like they would have to install MCU2 as part of the FSD package if it makes navigation unusable.
 
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This happened after you had the new FSD computer installed? Seems like they would have to install MCU2 as part of the FSD package if it makes navigation unusable.

Im sure by their definition its within spec. Car struggles to navigate anywhere further than 2 hours away. And forget about trying to stream music while navigating. MCU locks up frequently more referring to v8 to v10. MCU is def worse with hw3 though, i can no longer stream joe rogan after that
 
Im sure by their definition its within spec. Car struggles to navigate anywhere further than 2 hours away. And forget about trying to stream music while navigating. MCU locks up frequently more referring to v8 to v10. MCU is def worse with hw3 though, i can no longer stream joe rogan after that

I am not sure if that's because you have AP 3.0 with MCU 1 or just MCU 1 was getting too old with the newer and newer software upgrades over the years. We had AP 2.5 with MCU 1 right before the upgrade and everything you mentioned seems true to us. Navigation takes forever to figure out the route if it is outside of 1 hour drive. Every time the car switch freeway, the map will go blank for a while just to load and we don't use Satellite map. Zooming in and out of the map will cause a re-drawn that could take over a minute. And if we have to reboot the MCU (which happens more and more often), it could be a 10+ minutes ordeal.

This was the main reason we upgraded to MCU 2. Netflix does not hurt either LOL.
 
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Question to those without AP or with AP1, who did the MCU2 upgrade. (*)......

Pre-AP with the upgrade. A month in, I don't regret it in the slightest. As far as lasting improvements go, I now have LTE (and not dropped signal until I reboot everything), voice commands are incredibly accurate and fast (before I felt I had to slowly annunciate every word for it to get it all), and navigation takes seconds, where before, I'd have to stay stopped for what felt like forever pulling out of driveways to wait to see what direction I need to go first.

Having the extra entertainment options has also proven useful for supercharger stops and work lunches too, so that's definitely an added bonus.

Overall, yeah, I'd still definitely recommend it and I'd do it again if I had to. I know AP cars definitely get a bigger benefit, but it feels like it gave new life to this 7 year old car that starting to feel a bit aged from how slow everything worked.
 
I am not sure if that's because you have AP 3.0 with MCU 1 or just MCU 1 was getting too old with the newer and newer software upgrades over the years. We had AP 2.5 with MCU 1 right before the upgrade and everything you mentioned seems true to us. Navigation takes forever to figure out the route if it is outside of 1 hour drive. Every time the car switch freeway, the map will go blank for a while just to load and we don't use Satellite map. Zooming in and out of the map will cause a re-drawn that could take over a minute. And if we have to reboot the MCU (which happens more and more often), it could be a 10+ minutes ordeal.

This was the main reason we upgraded to MCU 2. Netflix does not hurt either LOL.
I’m not experiencing these problems. It will be interesting to see if getting the FSD computer breaks my car.
 
I’m not experiencing these problems. It will be interesting to see if getting the FSD computer breaks my car.

Look like you have AP 2.0? I wonder if AP 2.5 caused the slow down for us...if that's the case, AP 3.0 probably would too with MCU 1. For us, the slow down happened around Version 10 or just before that. It seems that the more functionality they added, the slower Navigation routing or map redrawn takes. It is very annoying that you have to wait for the Navigation to route so you know which way to turn after you exit the parking lot to start your drive.
 
Question to those without AP or with AP1, who did the MCU2 upgrade. (*)

I read above, right after doing the upgrade, there are many positive reactions: mainly because of the much more reactive MCU, and a little for the added entertainment (Video apps & Games).
But in the end, there will be no really useful new feature while driving (no Sentry anyway, no better AP visual...). The new entertainment are nice when not driving, but really, even when traveling, we don't wait in the car.

Here is my question: after the wow moment of having the new faster "toy" has passed, are you still happy you made such an expense ?

I mean, let's compare to my smartphone.
I used to switch asap iPhones: the newer phone was zippy again, and added some cool new feature (eg touchID).
But honestly, after a few days, I have to face it: it's just doing whatever it always did for me: phone, calendar, internet and some apps that works no differently than on the older one.
I'm still keeping my iPhone7, even with iOS 14: my Wife's new XR is definitely faster, and FaceID is cool, but basically: what I just wrote above.

So, what is your honest opinion on MCU2 for PreAP or AP1 cars?

(*) I definitely would do MCU2 if I had AP2 or above, as MCU1 is severely slowed down by AP2 and above, and also brings improved/fix features to Sentry etc...




Yes - I have this same question. I have a 2016 P90D with AP1. Can either go for the $2500 upgrade to MCU2 or a $350 upgrade and replace the daughterboard.

If you are pre-AP it sounds like you get LTE but I already have LTE. If you are AP 2.0 - then you get a bunch of stuff.

Not sure if the daughterboard replacement will make voice commands work again or "fixes" anything or is it just some "insurance" in case the original chip dies...

Thoughts?
 
I’m not experiencing these problems. It will be interesting to see if getting the FSD computer breaks my car.

Look like you have AP 2.0? I wonder if AP 2.5 caused the slow down for us...if that's the case, AP 3.0 probably would too with MCU 1. For us, the slow down happened around Version 10 or just before that. It seems that the more functionality they added, the slower Navigation routing or map redrawn takes. It is very annoying that you have to wait for the Navigation to route so you know which way to turn after you exit the parking lot to start your drive.

my personal opinion is that the MCU1 is overloaded by the additional features brought by AP2 and above like the sentry mode and dashcam.
 
my personal opinion is that the MCU1 is overloaded by the additional features brought by AP2 and above like the sentry mode and dashcam.

The real issue is forcing navigation to be in the background at all times. Mcu1 can't handle the constant tracking and map refresh while trying to handle streaming media, car functions etc. Bring up the sketchpad and try using the MCU, it works much better, not great, but useable. This is a software decision and almost borderlines forced obsolescence.
 
Look like you have AP 2.0? I wonder if AP 2.5 caused the slow down for us...if that's the case, AP 3.0 probably would too with MCU 1. For us, the slow down happened around Version 10 or just before that. It seems that the more functionality they added, the slower Navigation routing or map redrawn takes. It is very annoying that you have to wait for the Navigation to route so you know which way to turn after you exit the parking lot to start your drive.
Have you deleted all of your past destinations? I've read that helps.
 
Have you deleted all of your past destinations? I've read that helps.

Like one by one? No... but it doesn't matter now. It is lightning fast now with MCU 2! Even the wheel buttons seems more accurate and responsive. And the rear camera seems higher resolution. My wife saw the back up cam and asked did they change the camera? It's her daily driver... so she should know what it looked like before.