Tesla has revealed plans for an upgraded version of its in-vehicle AI hardware, while also reaffirming that its next-generation AI5 chip won’t be coming to cars anytime soon.
During the company’s Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk introduced what he described as AI4.1, or AI4+, a refreshed version of the current self-driving computer designed to extend its capabilities ahead of the release of AI5.
The update comes after some confusing comments by Musk about AI5, which had long been expected to power Tesla’s future vehicles, including the upcoming Cybercab. When asked what AI5 would be used for after announcing the design had been finalized, Musk said it would be used for Optimus and orbital data centers.
This was in direct contradiction with information the company had shared just weeks earlier during the Terafab announcement, which explicitly stated AI5 would power FSD.
We got a lot of feedback on our reporting of those comments, but Musk has now reiterated this u-turn, saying during the call he is confident that AI4 hardware has enough power to achieve Unsupervised FSD.
“I do expect that AI 5 will go into Optimus and into the data center, because it’s looking like we’ll be able to achieve unsupervised self-driving with AI 4 that is far greater than human safety levels. Which means it’s certainly not immediately needed in the car,” Musk said.
However, Musk did leave the door open for AI5 to eventually make its way into Tesla vehicles in the future.
“At some point, I think it will make sense for us to switch to AI 5 in the car, but there’s not a pressing issue to do so. At some point the AI 4 hardware is going to get so old that it’s like, okay, the only reason they’re keeping the factory open is for AI 4,” he explained.
In the meantime, Tesla is preparing an interim upgrade to its existing hardware. Musk revealed that the company is developing what he referred to as AI4.1 or AI4+, which will bring modest but meaningful improvements to performance.
“We are planning an AI 4 upgrade to use a newer generation RAM. It’ll go from 16 gigabytes to, I think, 32 gigabytes per SoC, so a total of 64 gigabytes. Probably a 10% increase in compute in trillions of operations per second and in memory bandwidth,” Musk said.
The upgraded chip is expected to enter production around mid-2027, though the timeline will depend on manufacturing partner Samsung and its ability to complete the necessary modifications.
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