What does autopilot hardware mean?

[ChadFeldheimer]

During the reveal, Elon mentioned that autopilot hardware would be standard, as well as autopilot safety features. Then later that year, Tesla introduced additional Autopilot nomenclature: Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self Driving.

The Model 3 product webpage still cites "Autopilot Hardware". That technically leaves open the possibility of the base Model 3 including only the hardware necessary for AP1-level Autopilot functionality - and Enhanced AP and FSD require a hardware upgrade. Maybe additional sensors or an upgraded processor or both.

On the other hand, "Autopilot Hardware" is a nice concise way of saying Full Self Driving Hardware.

Even so, I imagine there's quite a bit of pressure to minimize the cost of the AP sensor and processor suite on the base 3. If it only needed to support AP1 functionality, the base Model 3 could likely make do with a much cheaper processor and also would not incur the cost of the entire AP2 sensor suite.

Thoughts?

 

[RichardD]

Like the model S, they car will have the capability to do it, but you will have to pay to activate the software. They cannot install AP1 hardware any longer so it will be AP2, but at what level it is functioning remains to be seen as model S AP2 is still struggling with parity to AP1. It will overtake it at some point.

They are making the cars easier to build in that the hardware will all be there, but turning it on requires a pay as you go model. The 60kw battery is now upgradeable to 75 simply by paying for the feature.

 

[eSpiritIV]

RicharD is right...the hardware will be included (confirmed) but how you can actually get the self driving or other features will be disclosed later....and probably as as "options" you can unlock when you make your purchase

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

Yes, I understand Tesla no longer has access to the MobilEye solution. But shipping an AP1 level feature is still certainly possible.

For example, Tesla could ship the base Model 3 with Drive PX 2 for Autocruise (i.e. AP1) and only provide the Drive PX 2 for Fully Autonomous Driving hardware as a paid upgrade.

Autonomous Car Development Platform from NVIDIA DRIVE PX2

Drive PX2 for Fully Autonomous Driving seems like a pretty expensive processor to integrate into every Model 3.

 

[azred]

Yes, I understand Tesla no longer has access to the MobilEye solution. But shipping an AP1 level feature is still certainly possible.

For example, Tesla could ship the base Model 3 with Drive PX 2 for Autocruise (i.e. AP1) and only provide the Drive PX 2 for Fully Autonomous Driving hardware as a paid upgrade.

Autonomous Car Development Platform from NVIDIA DRIVE PX2

Drive PX2 for Fully Autonomous Driving seems like a pretty expensive processor to integrate into every Model 3.

No

 

[boaterva]

No

Right. Elon said every car produced after last October would have all the same HW2 hardware.

 

[RichardD]

The effort is to reduce the build time and costs.. And since he has proven everything is controlled by the software, it is easier to overbuild it, and make it pay to play....
It is alot like microtransactions in games.. You want a new color interior light? cool pay 19.99 and the LED will light up blue instead of white.. You want auto park.. we can do that. $499 and you can..

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

Right. Elon said every car produced after last October would have all the same HW2 hardware.

I found it!

All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware

We are excited to announce that, as of today, all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver.

That's fantastic. The reason I have my Model S is because of Autopilot. My lease is up next summer, and I look forward to swapping out for an improved Autopilot at that point. Now it sounds like I'll be able to swap out for a Model 3 and save a bunch of cash too!

 

[boaterva]

I found it!

All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware



That's fantastic. The reason I have my Model S is because of Autopilot. My lease is up next summer, and I look forward to swapping out for an improved Autopilot at that point. Now it sounds like I'll be able to swap out for a Model 3 and save a bunch of cash too!

Excellent, knew I read it somewhere also... but the blog isn't updated that often, so, one forgets about it. Thanks!

 

[lunitiks]

The same hardware is there in every car: The 360 video coverage, the radar, the ultrasonics, the gps, and the PX2.

So far, all arrows point to the fact that Tesla has implemented the "Autocruise" version of PX2, i.e. what Nvidia describes as "Point-to-point travel" capability. Tesla is certainly hoping/believing that this ECU will be sufficient, because of the large fleet of cars, but they're apparently not ruling out the possibility of having to upgrade the ECU to a "Fullly Autonomous Driving" version of the PX2 if current HW is not strong enough. Time will tell

 

[strykeroz]

Remembering of course that while the hardware will have a material cost, this will be well offset by the value to Tesla in the expanded fleet learning from all these cars sampling the world and sending that data back to the mothership even when they're not autopilot activated. Every M3 is helping improve autopilot's accuracy and couldn't without that sensor suite.

 

[JeffK]

So far, all arrows point to the fact that Tesla has implemented the "Autocruise" version of PX2

No, see any picture of its size in the tesla, and count the number of input ports...

 

[lunitiks]

Sorry @JeffK I meant "Autochauffeur", not autocruise. (Of course it's not the smallest version, I've seen, touched and measured the enclosure myself.) My bad.

Bear in mind though, the I/O-side(s) are modified by Tesla. Same goes for cooling. The size of the ECU enclosure itself makes it obvious they're not using the "Fully Autonomous" PX2 version

 

[JeffK]

Sorry @JeffK I meant "Autochauffeur", not autocruise. (Of course it's not the smallest version, I've seen, touched and measured the enclosure myself.) My bad.

Bear in mind though, the I/O-side(s) are modified by Tesla. Same goes for cooling. The size of the ECU enclosure itself makes it obvious they're not using the "Fully Autonomous" PX2 version

There are only two versions of the Drive PX board... they are either using the smallest or they are not.

Therefore, it's the full board (the one they label Autochauffeur). The other image you might be seeing is:

This is actually just two boards not some larger, weird shaped, monster board... Nvidia is saying that you can have multiple in a car... 2+ That is, if your software needs 2+

 

[lunitiks]

What I'm referring to is Nvidias own website describing the three different variations of Drive PX 2:
Autonomous Car Development Platform from NVIDIA DRIVE PX2

 

[JeffK]

What I'm referring to is Nvidias own website describing the three different variations of Drive PX 2:
Autonomous Car Development Platform from NVIDIA DRIVE PX2

Please give it another read... there're only two. a small form factor one and a full one.

Here's a quote:

The scalable architecture is available in a variety of configurations. These range from one passively cooled mobile processor operating at 10 watts, to a multi-chip configuration with two mobile processors and two discrete GPUs delivering 24 trillion deep learning operations per second. Multiple DRIVE PX 2 platforms can be used in parallel to enable fully autonomous driving.

one is in blue, the other in green.

The pictures also one show only two models:

and

That's it.

 

[lunitiks]

I'm not blind - I see that Nvidias "Fully Autonomous Driving" option consists of two boards. But was that simple fact really the whole point you were making? Or do you actually disagree that Tesla is using (a modified version of) the single board, "PX2 for Autochauffeur", point to point travel, variant?

 

[JeffK]

I'm not blind - I see that Nvidias "Fully Autonomous Driving" option consists of two boards. But was that simple fact really the whole point you were making? Or do you actually disagree that Tesla is using (a modified version of) the single board, "PX2 for Autochauffeur", point to point travel, variant?

I'm suggesting that there's no such thing as

a "Fullly Autonomous Driving" version of the PX2

Nvidia is simply saying you can put multiple units in a car if you wish. This is especially needed when you have multiple radars, lidars, and cameras. Tesla is using a simpler system, so they should be fine with one full board.