Tesla’s new self-driving (HW4) computer leaks: Here’s a teardown
Tesla’s new self-driving computer, Hardware 4.0 (HW4), has leaked as the automaker appears to be already building some cars with the upgraded system.
Here’s a first teardown.
We have known that Tesla has been preparing an upgrade to its Autopilot/self-driving hardware for a bit now.
Most notably, Tesla filed with the FCC to add a new radar on its vehicles and said that it planned to start marketing it in January. A new radar would mean that Tesla plans to update its sensor suite for Autopilot and self-driving.
We have also heard that the automaker is changing its cameras, according to a filing with Chinese regulators.
Finally, Tesla is expected to produce a new self-driving computer to merge all those new sensors into a more powerful computing platform.
All these hardware changes have been stressful for Tesla owners since the automaker has been promising that all its vehicles built since 2016 have all the hardware necessary to achieve self-driving through software updates.
It turned out not to be true as Tesla needed a more powerful computer (HW3), but it did supply the retrofit to existing owners for free.
Now CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla will not provide retrofit to HW4, but he said that the automaker still plans to deliver on its self-driving promises with HW3 and that HW4 will only push the performance higher.
Tesla Autopilot/Self-Driving Hardware 4.0
The teardown comes courtesy of Green The Only, a well-known Tesla hacker and tinkerer who has consistently revealed a lot of new information about Tesla vehicles by hacking the automaker’s software and tearing down its hardware.
In this case, he managed to get his hands on a new HW4 computer from a new Model X vehicle. We won’t go into details about how.
There are some indications that Tesla is implementing the new hardware suite in the Model X first with the automaker having just put up for sale its display and test drive fleet, which Tesla generally does later in a quarter. It could mean that Tesla is liquidating its Model X units in preparation for the new hardware.
Green started the teardown by confirming what Musk recently said: Don’t expect a retrofit.
Tesla’s self-driving computer is combined with its infotainment computer, which has also been updated with this HW4 upgrade.
Green said about the change:
Infotainment was reworked compared to current units. The GPU is now on the same board, so no more GPU daughterboard. This makes the whole unit thinner, otherwise no changes there – same 256G NVMe and 16G RAM, same AMD CPU and GPU.
As for Tesla’s actual HW4 computer, Green sees less improvement than what was hoped:
He did note that there are some improvements in security. Musk mentioned hackability of self-driving vehicles was a top concern at Tesla.
On the downside, the hacker’s own measurement shows that the new board has a higher power consumption than HW3 when idle.
Green noted that Tesla has also made improvements to the redundancy of the system, which is obviously important in a self-driving vehicle:
Redundancy is the name of the game this time? The board is mostly symmetric, with identical power connections on each side. There are even two network links to infotainment. Yet… if you unpower the A side, that kills the network switch and the link is lost. Still the improvements are there.
Now for what people have all been waiting for – the sensors.
Obviously, this is the computer and not the sensors, but the connectors can give us more information about the new sensors in HW4.
Now Tesla has been moving to a vision-based (cameras) approach and it has made a big deal of removing its radar and ultrasonic sensors.
There’s good news with HW4. Tesla appears to be including more cameras. There are currently 8 cameras in Tesla’s hardware suite, but now the new computer has connectors for 12 cameras, although one connector is marked as “spare.”
So we are talking about likely 11 cameras. Now as for the camera placement, it looks like all the current cameras remain other than a two camera setup in the windshield rather than the current three-front-facing camera setup.
While the information is hard to decrypt, Green sees indications that Tesla might have added cameras in the bumpers:
What’s SVC you might wonder? According to Tesla EPC, SVC is a bumper cover. So I’d guess these are bumper cameras. There’s a huge blindspot upfront on legacy cars up front (welcome to the legacy camp, Plaid owners!), so front bumper camera and two in the (rear?) bumper corners for cross traffic alerts (esp. with pillar moved forward)?
Green also found a connection for a new GPS module with a triband antenna:
The hacker noted about the new GPS unit:
The unit itself is big and unmarked, so who makes it is unknown, I would not be surprised if it’s somewhat custom Tesla thing. They carry a bootloader for it in firmware.
Finally, Green also found evidence of Tesla’s integrating a radar back into its sensor suite:
Musk told Electrek in June of last year after Tesla stopped using its radar:
The probability of safety will be higher with pure vision than vision+radar, not lower. Vision has become so good that radar actually reduces signal/noise.
However, the CEO also added that Tesla might still use radar if it had a “very high-resolution radar”:
A very high resolution radar would be better than pure vision, but such a radar does not exist. I mean vision with high res radar would be better than pure vision.
We saw some indications of Tesla working on that. We previously reported on Tesla looking to add a new “4D” imaging radar with twice the range of its previous radar.
That high-resolution radar was codenamed “phoenix,” so it might be the very radar that makes it to the new hardware suite.
It’s not clear when Tesla plans to make the new HW4 official, but the timing of the March 1 Investor Day makes it a likely contender for an official announcement.
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Velotric has continued to regularly update its popular e-bike models, with the latest launch today bringing us the Nomad 2. This fat tire adventure bike carries a host of new features and components, offering a powerful yet comfortable ride on both city streets and off-road trails.
The Velotric Nomad 2 sports a 750W nominally-rated motor with a true 90 Nm of torque. In other words, it’s designed to eat hills for breakfast and lay down some real power when riders need it most. And with both throttle-activated control and 15 levels of responsive pedal assist, that power can be dialed in to the right level for each rider’s own taste. And with a maximum speed of 28 mph, the bike is fast enough to keep up with traffic… when riders aren’t enjoying a relaxing trail ride.
Speaking of pedal assist, Velotric offers what they call SensorSwap, a feature in the pedal assist system that uses both a cadence sensor and a torque sensor and allows riders to select which sensor is being used at any time. The former allows riders to pedal easily while still getting impressive power output from the motor, while the latter offers more intuitive riding that provides a more natural feeling akin to pedaling a bike with extra powerful legs.
Torque sensors are often considered superior for their more refined experience, but cadense sensors are still praised by riders who don’t want to put in the extra effort required by torque sensors. With a torque sensor, the rider’s pedaling effort is multiplied, but a cadense sensor lets riders feel like they’re pedaling without needing to actually provide as much of their own ‘oomph’.
The Nomad 2’s design includes off-road features such as 26×4.0″ tires, a 100mm travel hydraulic suspension fork, and an included parallel linkage suspension seat post.
Combined with the powerful motor that offers 1,000 lb of towing capacity (plus 505 lb of payload), the 75 lb e-bike is built to handle just about anything, and that includes nearly any trail.
“Sometimes the road less traveled is the better one,” says Adam Zhang, the CEO of Velotric. “Nomad 2 speaks to those who love the journey, and the occasional detour! Whether you’re climbing trails, hauling heavy loads, or simply cruising, our latest bike gives you the freedom to ride further, faster, and more comfortably than ever before.”
And since off-road adventures often don’t have clear-cut end times, the bike offers 65 miles of maximum range thanks to the 48V and 14.7 Ah battery with 705 Wh of capacity. That battery is UL-listed and IPX7 waterproof, meaning you can dunk it in water. I’ve done exactly that with Velotric batteries before and they’ve survived for many more rides.
Rounding out the feature list includes a 3.5″ color display, Bluetooth connectivity, USB-C phone charger, 500 lumen headlight, tail light with turn signals, included rear rack with fenders, hydraulic disc brakes, an 8-speed Shimano transmission, and more.
The Velotric Nomad 2 is priced at $1,999 and went on sale today.
Riders can snag it in two sizes with four color options, and with a choice between a high-step and a step-through frame style.
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A Tesla store in New York City has been taken over by people protesting Elon Musk – disrupting the operations.
As we have reported over the last few weeks, there’s a growing movement called “Tesla Takedown,” under which grassroots protests are being organized at Tesla stores around the world.
There have been many more protests this weekend. Some of them had truly impressive turnouts.
For example, hundreds of people showed up to protest at Tesla’s Tuscon location (via Andy Flach):
These protests have been peaceful and legal, but there have been a few exceptions.
At Tesla’s Manhattan store in New York City today, some protestors managed to get inside the store and it started to cause problems.
Here’s a video (via Oliya Scootercaster ):
About 300 people showed up to the protests. Most of them stayed protesting peacefully outside, but a handful of people got in and Tesla employees had to close the stores as more tried to get in.
The police confirmed having arrested 9 people, but the charges are not clear as of now.
In videos of the aftermath, it looks like a few glass doors and windows were broken.
Similar protests have been reported in most major cities in the US and they are planned for the next few weeks.
Electrek’s Take
This is getting bigger and still gaining momentum. I’m honestly surprised by the response. I thought it would last weekend with a few dozen people at a few stores and that’s it.
But it looks like now thousands of people are getting active and it’s becoming a real problem for Tesla.
Enough to get the board to act and remove Elon Musk? I doubt it. Elon has done plenty of fireable offenses and they haven’t even blinked – because they are all in Elon’s pockets.
I think the stock price is the only thing that can really get things moving.
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Electrifying your commercial fleet is a tricky thing. Sure, you want to cut your fuel costs. You want to reduce your operating variables. Heck you you even want to help corporate meet their ESG goals – but where do you start? MAN Trucks is here to help fleet managers get answers.
As more and more heavy trucking fleets begin to deploy electric assets, they’re proving that operators’ range anxiety may be a myth on most routes. That’s true enough here in North America, and truer still in Europe where distances between cities are condensed and trucks like the Mercedes eActros and Renault E-Tech T semi roam.
MAN Trucks are also a popular choice in Europe, and their leadership – unlike most in the industry – have been especially vocal in their criticism of hydrogen, and have fully embraced battery-electric vehicles. As such, it’s no wonder that the company took to LinkedIn to announce its MAN electric commercial vehicles consultation team.
“It’s Full Power here with the MAN electric commercial vehicles consultation team,” writes Roger Turnbull, Head of EV Truck Consultation at MAN Truck. “After another busy week of meetings presenting to haulage and transport organizations of all sizes across the UK – you can feel the EV interest and enthusiasm growing.”
MAN Trucks’ consultation team helps commercial fleet operators in Europe and the UK fully understand the needs of their fleet, analyzes their fuel and maintenance costs, and helps them get a better understanding of what fleet assets are prime candidates for electrification, and what sort of charging solutions might work best for their operations – and that doesn’t always mean on-site charging.
With the capacity for onsite charging now becoming a reality for many plus proof that operators range anxiety maybe a myth on most routes, our industry is already stepping up a gear to find out more.
ROGER TURNBULL, MAN TRUCKS
Off-site charging solutions like those offered by Voltera and Zeem here in the US seem to be somewhat less common in Europe, but the electric trucking infrastructure as-a-whole seems to be a step or two ahead. That, combined with generally higher fuel costs compared to the US, make it a bit easier for fleets to electrify. And MAN will help them see that.
The best part? MAN’s consultation is free, and requires no obligation to buy. “Your MAN EV Consultation Team in the UK offer free information, advice and support,” offers Turnbull. “[Everything] from the basics to multi-vehicle using multiple site locations. Factually checked and honest.”
You can’t do much better than free, right?
Electrek’s Take
Fleet assessments and fleet asset audits are crucial steps on the path to successful fleet electrification. These comprehensive evaluations provide fleet operators with valuable insights into their current fleet operations, energy consumption patterns, and infrastructure needs. By carefully analyzing this data, fleet managers can make informed decisions about which vehicles to prioritize for electrification while minimizing the potential for “surprises” once the trucks are delivered and the funds are tied up.
If you’re a fleet manager reading this, you should get a fleet energy analysis set up soon – whether you’re planning to electrify or not.
SOURCE | PHOTOS: MAN Trucks.
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