Elon Musk admits that millions of Tesla vehicles won’t get unsupervised FSD

I wish it were otherwise, but Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD. We did think at one point it would have that, but relative to Hardware 4, it has only one-eighth of the memory bandwidth of Hardware 4. And memory bandwidth is one of the key elements needed for unsupervised FSD.

For customers that have bought FSD, what we’re offering is essentially a discounted trade-in for cars that have AI4 hardware. We’ll also be offering the ability to upgrade the car to replace the computer. And you also need to replace the cameras, unfortunately, to go to Hardware 4. To do this efficiently, we’re going to have to set up microfactories, or small factories, in major metropolitan areas in order to do it efficiently. If it’s done at the service center, it’s extremely slow to do so and inefficient. We basically need mini production lines to make the change.

I do think over time it’s going to make sense for us to convert all Hardware 3 cars to Hardware 4, because that’s what enables them to enter the robotaxi fleet and have unsupervised FSD.

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• Jay Peters