Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has confirmed that there will be no retrofit option for the company’s Hardware 3 (HW3) vehicles to upgrade to Hardware 4 (HW4) during the Q4 2022 and full year earnings call. This decision was made for two main reasons.
Firstly, Musk stated that there will not be a significant difference in the performance of Full Self-Driving capabilities between HW3 and HW4. He explained that while HW4 will be safer than HW3, the latter will still be much safer than a human driver. He used the example of HW3 being 200% to 300% safer than a human, whereas HW4 will be 500% to 600% safer.
Secondly, Musk cited the cost and complexity of performing a retrofit as a major factor. He stated that the cost would be “quite significant” and would not be economically feasible. However, Musk did confirm that HW5 will be coming to market after HW4, which may lead to renewed questions about a retrofit option.
Although Tesla has not officially released details on HW4, a recent leak from Giga Shanghai suggests that the number of forward-facing cameras will be reduced from 3 to 2, and new fans and heating elements will be added to prevent camera fogging. Additionally, the cameras are reported to be upgraded from 1.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels. The Cybertruck, which is set to begin production later this year, will be the first vehicle to feature HW4.
