Tesla Says New Autopilot Hardware Coming Next Year

Tesla said on its Q2 earnings call that it has built and tested a new custom chip designed specifically for Autopilot. The company says it will be the “world’s most advanced computer for autonomous driving.”

Tesla owners will be able to swap Autopilot 2.0 hardware with the new computer next year.

Chief Executive Elon Musk offered a few specs, which are a massive improvement in performance over the previous hardware. For instance, the Nvidia GPUs powering 2.0 hardware are capable of processing 200 frames per second, while the new third generation hardware will process 2,000 frames per second.

Musk actually mentioned the project at the end of 2017 at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference. “I wanted to make it clear that Tesla is serious about AI, both on the software and hardware fronts. We are developing custom AI hardware chips,” he said at the time.

Tesla’s efforts were led by then Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Jim Keller, the former head architect for AMD and Apple. Keller has since left Tesla and the division is now led by Pete Bannon.

Bannon said Wednesday that Tesla has manufactured the chip and installed it in test vehicles. The new hardware suite will replace the existing computer in vehicles running Autopilot 2.0 and 2.5 hardware and move the vehicles closer to fully autonomous.

The company intends to continue making software improvements to the current hardware. Bannon said a new version of Autopilot will be released in about a month.

 

[LastGas]

I'm taking delivery of a Model 3 with FSD in two weeks and it is hugely comforting to learn that the self-driving system won't be obsolete in a year.

If this upgrade is necessary for FSD to work, then I would expect the upgrade to be at no cost, but I wouldn't be bent out of shape too much if I had to pay something reasonable.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Tesla clearly didn't think the AP1 software through and put a giant foot in their mouth. I honestly don't believe any AP1 cars will ever be fully autonomous due to the lack of sensors. Let's face it, if they didn't need more sensors they wouldn't of added more to the current models. JM2C

Tesla never, ever marketed AP1 as being autonomous and never, ever said it would be "Full Self Drive" (FSD). AP1 was marketed as "Autopilot" with basic lane-keeping and lane-changing functions. Please show us where Tesla said otherwise and promised FSD to AP1 owners. Pretty please.

I'm pretty sure it's free to all 2.0 and 2.5 cars.

You mean the same way 700+ HP (as originally advertised on P85D) was "free" to P85D owners by way of a thousands of dollars upgrade to Ludicrous Mode? You mean like that?

We already know AP2.5 vehicles are stuck. My question is about new vehicles built with AP3.0. I have a feeling the new chip won't be the only change.

You're absolutely right. Tesla would never tip its hand with regard to future sensor suites, if they did people would stop buying. I'm not buying until this new AP3 is officially launched. I would expect a multitude of other improvements, not just the processing hardware. The writing is on the wall in bright letters.

Those who believe there will be no improvements to existing sensors/cameras or new hardware added are probably the same people who believed Musk when he said the Model 3 would not be "better" than the Model S. Boy did that turn out to be a big facepalm given all of the improvements in Model 3, including far better design and build quality, interior comfort, features, and a pricing matrix that makes buying a Model S a nonsensical proposition.

 

[RDoc]

They never promised FSD, but they did promise much more than they have ever delivered:

This is from Feb 19, 2015:

 

[mknox]

Free if you pay for FSD. There is no point in upgrading vehicles that do not need the processing power.

I sure hope it would be free to people who paid for FSD. I didn't by the way; it sounded like vaporware then and it still does today...

Well, I guess I'm one of the few who joined the Kickstarter campaign and ticked the FSB box when I ordered. I sure hope any hardware upgrades that are necessary would be included.

 

[whitex]

Don't fret folks. New AP3 hardware will be like AP2 when it came out, doesn't do anything, not even automatic wipers. It will show signs of life a year later, then reach about parity with the earlier version 2 years after introduction. Of course no need for Tesla to upgrade existing cars to a non-software-enabled new hardware - they'll tell people to hang on until software is ready. The biggest advantage for Tesla is a great excuse why the FSD is not ready. They can do this with AP4 as well, unless of course it will have new sensors which cannot be cheaply retrofitted to AP2.x, then they'll just stop talking about it or say "trade-up to out latest AP5.0 for FSD - anyone who paid for FSD in AP2.x will get a free FSD upgrade if they buy a new Model S/X/3".

 

[ChrML]

They never promised FSD, but they did promise much more than they have ever delivered:

This is from Feb 19, 2015:

View attachment 322446

Actually they did deliver all that if you read it literally. But I guess the text could've been re-written because it's easy to misunderstand for something better.

 

[whitex]

Actually they did deliver all that if you read it literally. But I guess the text could've been re-written because it's easy to misunderstand for something better.

By your logic AP1 and AP2 cars drive people to work and pick them up, as long as work is directly in front of their garage, within 30ft in a straight line. Go write the headline, Tesla can drive you to work, go home park itself, then come pick you up after work. Available since 2 years ago on AP1, more recently on AP2.

 

[RDoc]

Actually they did deliver all that if you read it literally. But I guess the text could've been re-written because it's easy to misunderstand for something better.

So your Tesla automatically pulls out of your garage at the right time and meets you at the curb????

Gee, mine doesn't.

It doesn't automatically park in empty supercharger stalls either.

 

[SlicedBr3ad]

Well, I guess I'm one of the few who joined the Kickstarter campaign and ticked the FSB box when I ordered. I sure hope any hardware upgrades that are necessary would be included.

i think you'd be surprised at how many people got FSD. its not less than 5% for sure and somewhere in 15-30% range which is a significant amount if you consider it.

 

[Pale_Rider]

Last official stat from a Tesla rep was around 35% uptake in FSD. There’s an Electrek article about it somewhere.