AI Day: Tesla FSD Hardware 4.0

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla spent a good part of AI Day talking about their big improvements in vision and AI where they’ve been making amazing progress as shown with some of the latest FSD Betas. They also talked about Dojo, their new supercomputer used for AI which will become operational next year. They even announced a humanoid robot, Tesla Bot.

Tesla talks about FSD Hardware 4.0

However, one thing that wasn’t part of the official event, but we were able to find out more in the questions and answers portion of the event is Tesla’s FSD hardware 4.0 computer.

Tesla released FSD hardware 2.5 in 2017 and hardware version 3.0 was introduced in 2019. So we’ve been expecting an updated version of the FSD computer for a little while now.

All of Tesla’s vehicles today include Tesla’s hardware 3.0 computer, including the newly designed Model S. Normally, you’d see companies shy away from talking about new hardware that wasn’t part of the event, but Tesla had no problem answering questions about a possible new FSD computer.

When asked if there was a new FSD computer on the horizon, Elon Musk said that he expects the current hardware to be capable of autonomous driving safer than a human, but of course Tesla wants to continue expanding and improving so they’re always developing more powerful computers.

Elon guessed that we may see hardware 4.0 next year with the introduction of the Cybertruck. He hinted at hardware 4.0 providing about 4x the compute power of hardware 3.0. For those of you with Cybertruck reservations, this makes that vehicle even more exciting.

In another question related to new hardware, Elon also said that Tesla is looking into new cameras. He was clear that the current cameras aren’t a hindrance, but if they can think they can do better, then they would. He didn’t go into details whether this would be tied to the Cybertruck or hardware 4.0, but it seems likely. He also didn’t mention specifically whether they would be higher resolution, larger sensors, or possibly even better placement on the vehicle.

It’s been shown before that although the current camera placement on Teslas today allow for human-like capabilities and provide a similar view as a human being in the driver seat, it could be further improved by having cameras placed near the headlights looking off to the side.

Although it could be disappointing for some to see new hardware announced so soon after they bought a hardware 3 equipped vehicle, Tesla needs to continue advancing and new hardware may not necessarily provide new capabilities, but introduce a higher level of safety.

Smart Assistant 'Grok' Coming to Tesla, Demo of Grok 3 Tonight

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

xAI’s Grok AI Model has been receiving rapid updates, similar to Tesla’s FSD. After waiting for a major update, the latest version—Grok 3—is set to launch with a live demo on February 17th.

Grok 3 is supposed to bring big improvements, as xAI has changed its approach to training the Large Language Model (LLM). Unlike many other LLMs, Grok can access real-time information and adapt its answers based on the latest news and discussions happening on X’s platform, making it more suited for current events or breaking news.

At the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Elon also mentioned that Grok 3 is already outperforming its competitors, so there is a lot to look forward to. Let’s dig into the new capabilities and then see why they matter to Tesla drivers.

New Capabilities

This time, Grok is set to feature self-correction, reinforcement learning, and synthetic datasets. Self-correction allows Grok to identify and fix its own mistakes, with human oversight ensuring that the process is guided. This helps refine Grok’s future responses as part of its ongoing training.

Reinforcement learning, meanwhile, rewards or penalizes the AI based on its actions. When it performs correctly, it receives a reward, reinforcing that behavior; penalties reduce the likelihood of undesirable actions. Combined with new synthetic datasets, xAI can accelerate Grok’s training process, much like how Tesla’s AI team has been refining FSD. There’s definitely a lot of overlap between the two.

Voice Support

Grok is one of the few remaining publicly available AIs that doesn’t have a live-voice mode. Its competitors - including Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT - both have live voice response and reasoning and will also integrate and hook into 3rd-party services over voice.

That’s going to be a key feature as Tesla looks to Grok to power its upcoming voice assistant in their vehicles.

Tesla Demo

Musk has previously stated that all Tesla vehicles will eventually receive Grok as a Smart Voice Assistant—one far more capable than the current voice command system.

With changes to the Navigation Voice globally, as well as the “Hi” command finally returning a response, we’re on the verge of Tesla’s integration of a voice assistant.

Tonight’s demo, at 8 pm PT is expected to be live, potentially showing off the integration into Tesla vehicles. Millions of existing Tesla vehicles worldwide could soon take advantage of Grok as a voice assistant. There’s even a rumor of a wake word for the feature — potentially Grok.

Grok’s real-time capabilities mean you could ask it to add a stop to your route for food at the highest-rated local restaurant with minimal wait. Grok would gather and process that information while your car drives itself, then update your route, allowing FSD to take you directly there. You’ll also be able to ask general knowledge questions, such as the weather for tomorrow or the price of Tesla stock.

Controlling the vehicle will also be greatly upgraded. While the current voice command system can handle simple tasks like “Open Charge Port” or “Turn on Defrost,” the new system should be able to handle more complex requests and allow drivers to ask things in a more natural way.

We expect to find out more about Grok in Teslas tonight. Even if the demo tonight doesn’t specifically mention Tesla, a look at Grok’s new abilities could be a first look at what we’ll soon be able to experience in our Teslas.

Tesla Executives Confirm Robotaxi on Track for June

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

At the Tesla Q4 2024 Earnings Call, we found out that Tesla now has a firm date and set location for the first deployment of its Robotaxi fleet. Now, several of Tesla's executives have re-iterated that deployment date and location in several different places.

Like most Tesla fans and investors, we’re excited to see Cybercab make its official debut on the streets of Austin, Texas, sometime in June. That’s potentially less than 100 days away - but who’s counting, right?

Elon Confirms

Elon Musk confirmed on X that Tesla is still on track to launch autonomous ride-hailing (Robotaxi) in Austin this June. Plus, they’re also working on rolling it out to even more cities in the United States by the end of the year.

Tesla’s benchmark for expanding deployments is ensuring that Robotaxi safety surpasses the average human driver by a wide margin. Based on the latest Vehicle Safety Report, Supervised FSD is already making strong progress, outperforming the average driver by 10.5 times—a full order of magnitude.

Franz Confirms

Franz Von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Head of Vehicle Design, also confirmed that Tesla will be offering Cybercab rides in Austin starting in June. What’s key here is that he confirmed the presence of Cybercabs finally deploying - it won’t be driverless Model Ys or Model 3s - it’ll be the Cybercab.

That means an autonomy-first vehicle without a driver’s seat, steering wheel, or pedals will be on the road and driving people from point to point. Major autonomy competitors like Waymo use heavily modified EVs that still have seats and vehicle controls intact. An autonomy-first design increases passenger room and storage while also improving efficiency by reducing vehicle weight.

Are you planning on making your way down to Austin to experience the Robotaxi experience first-hand or are you planning on waiting until it’s deployed in a city near you? Let us know your thoughts in our forums or social media.

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