Elon Musk said he is testing Steam integration in-vehicle
Tesla
Elon Musk is a busy guy, but he even takes time to play video games. The Tesla CEO told his 105.6 million followers on Twitter that he was playing games. But when you're Musk, this is still working. He was testing the highly anticipated Steam integration with Tesla. It's not known which one of the 30,000 Steam games he was playing (or should I say testing), but the fact that he is telling the world he is trying it out could mean the release is imminent.
Steam is to the PC gaming world what Tesla is to the electric vehicle market. With nearly 20 years under its belt, it's estimated Steam takes up 75 percent of the global market share for the distribution of PC games. More than 100 million users are on the platform, and it is showing no signs of slowing down. In addition, it is releasing Steam Decks, a mobile device to take all of those games with you.
Tesla's gaming does not quite compare to Steam, with about 20 games available, and most are classics. However, this integration could put Tesla's gaming platform light years ahead. In fact, the new Model S and Model X have a gaming computer that keeps pace with PlayStation 5 and XBox Series X.
The new system has ten teraflops of processing power. A teraflop is the computer world's version of horsepower, and yes, 10 is a lot. The PS5 has 10.28, and for those keeping score, the Playstation 4 has 1.84. For anyone who has played the two consoles, you can attest to noticing immediately the difference those additional 8 TFLOPS provide.
Musk wants the Tesla to be the most fun you can have in a car. By adding this kind of computer power to the Model S and Model X, he ensures that the system can handle the top-end video games. He has demonstrated the game considered the most graphically demanding, Cyberpunk 2077. These complex and visually stunning video games also occupy a lot of space. The average Steam user has 55 games on their account. However, it looks like Tesla has already started to solve these problems.
With Tesla update 2022.24 Tesla now lets you uninstall games from Tesla Arcade. There's currently no need to uninstall a game because there's ample storage, but that won't always be the case.
The amount of storage available for games will vary depending on the MCU in the vehicle. While vehicles with MCU 2 only contain a 64GB hard drive for the entire vehicle (OS, games and data), newer vehicles with MCU 3 include up to a 256GB solid-state drive. Out of those 256GB, 155GB is currently reserved for games, so they'll be able to store significantly more games before requiring an external hard drive.
While there is still no release date for the Steam integration, a big event is on the horizon for Tesla, AI Day Part II. The event was initially scheduled for August 19 but has been pushed back to September 30. Musk has promised "many cool updates" at AI Day; perhaps Steam integration will be one of them.
For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.
Price Increase
The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.
The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series.
The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.
Free Lifetime Supercharging
For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.
There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.
We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.
Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.
Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.
Optimus is Blind
Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer.
Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.
Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips.
What’s Next?
Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.
Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.
There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.
We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.
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