Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will introduce a new media computer upgrade in the coming months that’ll be offered to existing owners. Curiously, he doesn’t recommend owners opt for the upgrade.
In 2018, Tesla started building its vehicles with a new system that’s roughly twice as fast as the computer and infotainment used in older cars. For some time, Tesla has been promising owners of its older vehicles that it would be available as an upgrade.
Taking to Twitter earlier this week, Elon Musk said he hopes to see the new computer available as an upgrade soon, despite the issues they’re facing.
“This is quite a thorny hardware problem, as there are many diff versions of mcu & autopilot computer & supporting hardware. Cars last so much longer than phones! Hopefully able to upgrade mcu1 & ap2.0 in a few months.”
Musk went on to reveal that upgrading to the new computer will set customers back roughly $2,000. According to the Tesla boss, though, it isn’t recommended as the new computer isn’t needed for full self-driving and only includes “limited entertainment improvements.” Among the features only available through the upgraded computer are video streaming, TeslaCam, and the popular Sentry Mode.
In a bid to offer its existing customers a slightly more capable interface, Tesla is working on a new software update for the old system, although hardware limitations will likely mean it won’t benefit from all of the new features found in the latest piece of kit.
This is quite a thorny hardware problem, as there are many diff versions of mcu & autopilot computer & supporting hardware. Cars last so much longer than phones! Hopefully able to upgrade mcu1 & ap2.0 in a few months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2019
MCU (infotainment computer) upgrade not recommended imo. Isn’t needed for full self-driving & cost is ~$2k for limited entertainment improvements.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2019