Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will provide free hardware upgrades for customers with Full Self-Driving (FSD) on Hardware 3 (HW3/AI3). That doesn’t mean you should be rushing out to book a service appointment, as Musk said the upgrade will only happen if HW3 is unable to run unsupervised FSD, a question which they don’t know the answer to yet.
Tesla’s hardware journey began in 2016 when Musk announced that all Tesla vehicles built from that point onward would include “all the hardware necessary to enable self-driving.” However, after this claim, it was clear that Tesla underestimated the computing power required for this level of autonomy.
A few years later Tesla introduced HW3, a more powerful onboard computer, and promised that anyone who had purchased the FSD package prior to this hardware upgrade would receive a free retrofit to HW3. With the launch of this new computer, Musk reassured customers that it would be sufficient to enable true self-driving capabilities.
Since then, Tesla has introduced HW4, an even more powerful version of its onboard computer. However, this time the company was not offering a free upgrade. Musk explained it wouldn’t be necessary because HW3 would be capable of full autonomy, and that performing a retrofit would be economically unfeasible due to its cost and complexity.
While Musk says they still don’t know yet if HW3 will be capable of running unsupervised FSD, he said they will offer free upgrades if it is determined that it can’t.
“There is some chance that HW3 does not achieve a safety level that allows unsupervised FSD. If that turns out to be the case, we will upgrade those who have FSD on HW3 for free. We will take care of those who have bought FSD on HW3,” Musk said on the Q3 2024 earnings call.
Interestingly, Musk did not mention HW4 in his comments, and said they have designed the system to be upgradable, in contrast to his previous statements. He explained that the computer is relatively easy to switch, and that the cameras won’t need to be replaced as they are “capable.” Based on his previous comments about the difficulty of a HW3 to HW4 retrofit, this could mean Tesla is developing a hybrid HW3/HW4 computer which comes in a form factor that makes retrofits much easier to perform.
Whatever the solution is, this is great news for owners with FSD on HW3, and really is the right thing for Tesla to do, especially as many of these are long-term customers that have supported the company for many years.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to add the possibility of Tesla developing a hybrid HW3/HW4 computer. The headline has been updated to reflect this.
