Tesla owner upgrades Autopilot 2.5 to 3.0 Hardware: Cost, results, and more

Back in October 2018, Elon Musk stated on Twitter that Tesla owners with HW2.5 vehicles who purchased the Full Self-Driving suite will be receiving a free upgrade to the company’s custom-designed, homegrown HW3 Autopilot computer. Today, Tesla appears to be staying true to the CEO’s word, as recently shared by a Model X owner from Canada. 

A Tesla Model X P100D owner who runs the Electric Dreams channel on YouTube recently received the company’s latest iteration of its V10 software. Being equipped with Hardware 2.5, the Model X was not able to take advantage of some new features that were rolled out by the electric car maker, such as the company’s updated driving visualizations improvements

This was a bit disappointing for the Model X owner, especially since his vehicle was equipped with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite. With this, the owner-enthusiast opted to schedule a home visit from a Tesla Mobile Service technician. The request: to conduct a retrofit that would replace the Model X P100D’s HW2.5 computer with Tesla’s newer, more powerful, custom-designed HW3 FSD unit. 

Commenting on the experience, the Tesla owner noted that he was not really expecting Tesla to respond to his request, but much to his pleasant surprise, an appointment was indeed processed. After signing some documents, it did not take long before a member of Tesla’s Mobile Service Team drove over to the Model X owner’s house to conduct a HW2.5 to HW3 retrofit on the all-electric SUV. 

(Credit: Electric Dreams/YouTube)

Unfortunately, the Model X owner was informed that no videos were allowed during the entire HW3 retrofit process. Nevertheless, images taken by the Electric Dreams host during the new Autopilot computer’s installation show that Tesla’s HW3 does seem more robust than the NVIDIA-powered HW2.5, with its large radiators and somewhat heftier look. It took around an hour and a half for the installation to be completed and an additional two hours for the necessary firmware to be loaded into the vehicle. 

After this was completed, the Model X P100D was updated once more with Tesla’s latest software. And sure enough, features that were unavailable prior to the HW2.5 to HW3 retrofit, such as V10’s driving visualizations improvements, were now enabled. Overall, it appears that Tesla’s HW3 retrofits for Model S and Model X owners who purchased the FSD suite seem to be ongoing now, and true to Elon Musk’s words, the process is completely painless. The entire upgrade was free as well, as indicated by the $0 charge for the HW3 installation. 

Yet, perhaps the best thing here really is the sheer convenience of the entire retrofit process. Back in September, Tesla owner-enthusiast Sofiaan Fraval noted on Twitter that his Model S received a HW3 retrofit when he paid a visit to the service center. If the Electric Dreams channel host’s video is any indication, it appears that retrofits are now being conducted by Tesla’s Mobile Service team, and they are also available on demand. 

This ultimately bodes well for Tesla’s rollout of its Full Self-Driving suite. Musk, after all, has stated that the company will push HW3 retrofits when FSD features actually warrant the additional computing power of the custom-built Autopilot unit. This was explained by Musk in a tweet back in March. “Retrofits will start when our software is able to take meaningful advantage of the Tesla FSD computer, which is an order of magnitude more capable. For now, it’s slightly disadvantageous to have Tesla FSD computer as our software is more refined for HW2,” Musk wrote. 

Considering the company’s rollout of new FSD features such as Smart Summon, it appears that HW3’s additional computing power is now becoming more useful for Tesla’s advanced capabilities. 

Watch Electric Dreams‘ video about his Model X P100D’s HW2.5 to HW3 retrofit in the video below. 

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Tesla owner upgrades Autopilot 2.5 to 3.0 Hardware: Cost, results, and more

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Tesla quietly updates its 3rd-slowest sedan to be quicker than the Ferrari Testarossa

When Tesla released the Mid-Range Model 3, it was positioned as an entry-level vehicle that is designed to provide a practical, reasonably-priced way for customers to get into the company’s ecosystem. The Mid-Range Model 3 was thus conservatively specced, with performance figures that were closer to that of the Standard Range Model 3 than the more expensive Long Range AWD variant. 

The Mid-Range Tesla Model 3 was launched with a 0-60 mph time of 5.6 seconds, a top speed of 125 mph, and a range of 260 miles. Since Tesla was not able to manufacture its Standard Range battery packs yet then, the electric car maker equipped the Mid-Range Model 3 with a Long Range battery pack with fewer cells, giving the vehicle its 260-mile range. The Mid-Range Model 3 was ultimately retired upon the arrival of the Standard Range and Standard Range Plus Model 3, which took its place as Tesla’s entry-level vehicle. 

Being part of the Model 3 family, the Mid-Range Model 3 has received improvements that the company has rolled out to the vehicle. In January, for one, Tesla updated the vehicle’s range to 264 miles per charge. Last March, the vehicle’s performance received improvements as well. And with Tesla’s most recent 5% over-the-air performance boost, the Mid-Range Model 3 got better once more. 

Tesla owner-enthusiast nukem384, who owns a Mid-Range Model 3, recently tested his vehicle’s acceleration after receiving the electric car maker’s most recent performance update. In the Tesla owner’s tests, the Mid-Range Model 3 was able to sprint from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds consistently. These figures are incredibly impressive, considering that breaking the 5-second barrier places the Mid-Range Model 3 into high-performance car territory. 

Such acceleration numbers, in fact, actually make the Mid-Range Model 3 quicker from 0-60 mph than the legendary and iconic Ferrari Testarossa, which was one of the Italian supercar-maker’s most recognizable vehicles to date. The Testarossa is arguably one of Ferrari’s best creations, and the exhaust note from its naturally-aspirated V12 engines is nothing short of legendary. The vehicle also received cult status for being the hero car in the popular show Miami Vice

Performance-wise, the Testarossa is nothing to scoff about. The supercar is worthy of its Ferrari badge, with its 0-60 mph time of 5.2 seconds and its top speed of 180 mph. Mid-engined, raw, and unapologetically manual, the Testarossa is probably one of the most recognizable Ferraris ever made. A proper supercar, and one that is now capable of being outrun by a young automaker’s “3rd-slowest” family sedan after a free over-the-air software update

In the age of electric cars and internet-connected vehicles, over-the-air performance updates are a true difference-maker. Tesla is arguably the only automaker that does this today, but hopefully, as more carmakers follow the trend of tech-centric high-performance cars, OTA performance updates will soon be the norm. Until then, Tesla’s electric cars will likely keep improving as evidenced by a Tesla Model 3 Performance, a car without a dedicated Launch Mode, recently breaking the 3-second barrier in a 0-60 mph test.

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Tesla quietly updates its 3rd-slowest sedan to be quicker than the Ferrari Testarossa

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Tesla has shifted the auto industry to ditch the key

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It appears there’s finally a tech area where legacy automakers can keep up with Tesla – keyless car entry and ignition.

They’ve been trying various versions out for a number of years already, but now that Tesla has upped the game by creating a computer on wheels, the tech is getting a near-universal addition on all new cars. According to an Edmunds report cited by CBS, 91% of vehicle models produced for 2019 have keyless ignitions as either standard or optional, a feature that Tesla was first to offer. This is up from 72% offered in 2014. Of vehicles purchased, nearly 70% included keyless tech in 2019, more than doubling the 31% from 2014. Clearly, consumers are being won over.

I remember some early security criticism when keyless entry was making the rounds, both the over-the-top kind and some with accompanying evidence. Personally, my old Jeep fob used to be able to unlock other cars sometimes in large parking lots, so security issues rang true to me, too. I also remembered stories about people hacking other people’s computers and phones simply by grabbing their WiFi or Bluetooth signals. If they could access my banking that easily, my car should be no match. Scary!

I swear there was a keyless car tech Luddite Award waiting somewhere with my name on it.

Tesla one-upped all that with the Model 3 – now you can start your car with your phone and soon drive it as well. The amped-up security seems to make it near impossible to hack into, but I’ve seen videos on how people can potentially clone signals when Tesla owners are at Superchargers. Quite difficult, but not totally impossible. Then again, the car is still a computer with a gazillion ways to be tracked. I’ve seen those stories, too, and it seems there’s a reason the number of successfully stolen Tesla cars hovers in the single digits.

All that said, Tesla seems to have Luddite concerns all wrapped up with their vehicles, but what about legacy auto? Fortunately for them, not every capable computer programmer in the world works at Tesla already. In fact, many of them already work for automakers. It seems every manufacturer already has software development centers and divisions dedicated exclusively to their vehicle tech, and they’ve been recruiting from Silicon Valley for years.

Their battery and self-driving tech might be woefully behind Tesla for a while yet, but apps that electronically tell their car to do things it already knows how to do manually? They should have that in the bag soon. Lincoln is about to introduce keyless ignition next year, so it’s quite likely the rest of the gang will follow suit since they’re already halfway there with keyless entry and app-based auto start functions to pre-warm cars.

It’s a small step, but an important one. Perhaps by following Tesla’s lead in computerizing (app-ifying?) nearly everything in their vehicles, they’ll understand a bit better what makes Tesla so unique. They’ll understand why Tesla’s tech is so appealing. They’ll understand why consumers are embracing what Tesla has to offer.

I mean, we probably won’t all embrace the tech quite on the level that Amie DD has and literally make keyless ignition a physical part of our bodies, but we will probably embrace it to the extent that we have let our phones run most of our lives.

Tesla has shifted the auto industry to ditch the key

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