There’s no denying that Musk has always been convinced that unmanned driving is several times safer than human driving. From Tesla FSD HW 3.0 to HW 4.0 to HW 5.0, it could be 10 times safer. However, it’s important to note that autonomous driving technology is evolving so quickly that the algorithms alone have been reworked several times. Now let’s find out The Mystery of the Tesla FSD!

Iteration of technology is inevitable, rather a necessary process, but that’s why there’s a big question mark over how the HW5.0, which will be mass-produced in a few years’ time, will actually perform.

Tesla FSD HW4.0

Tesla FSD HW4.0 is the abbreviation of Hardware 4.0, meaning Hardware 4.0, which is the collective name of Tesla’s Auto-assisted Driving hardware. It has gone through iterations of product versions such as 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0, and each generation has made leaps and bounds of progress, similar to the new products released by iPhones every year, and the hardware is upgraded.

It’s just that the iteration speed of automotive hardware is not as high-frequency as that of mobile phones, for example, HW2.5 was released in 2017, HW3.0 was released in 2019, and HW4.0 came directly to 2023, and of course, with the advancement of technology, the product will continue to be iterated in the future, and there will also be HW5.0.With the iteration of each generation of the product, the camera, the chip, and other hardware systems will be upgraded.

Comparison with HW3.0

HW4.0 is completely different from the current mainstream LiDAR solution, Tesla adopts the pure vision solution, which is the judgement that Musk has been insisting.

Musk believes that the pure vision solution can meet the future needs of automatic driving and is the best choice, and he said that LiDAR is not the best choice of solution, because humans also rely on vision to complete driving, so the machine should also be the same as humans.

Compared to the LiDAR solution, the pure vision solution has less basic hardware and has a lower cost, which is the philosophy Musk has been following.

What exactly has changed from HW 3.0 to 4.0? First of all, as a Tesla with a purely visual solution, the natural image aspect is the most important. HW4.0’s camera pixels have been upgraded from 1.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels, and although the front camera has been changed from a trinocular to a binocular, and the overall number of cameras has been reduced from 8 to 7, the maximum visual detection distance has been changed from 250 metres to 424 metres, which means that the system can see farther and clearer.

As you can see from the screen display of the status of the surrounding vehicles, there are more vehicles around than before, and the car models are more accurately recognised, and cars further away can also be displayed. For example, if you have just left the garage, you can see the traffic situation at the next junction, just like a veteran driver, you can see further and anticipate in advance.

According to the picture, HW3.0 camera colour is not real enough, the image is yellowish; the image clarity is not high, especially for long distance clarity, similar to our mobile phone to take pictures of pixels are not high enough, the focus is pulled far away from the fuzzy, can’t see clearly; encountered in bad weather or at night, the field of vision is not good enough; HW4.0 colour reproduction degree is high, closer to the real visual vision seen by the naked eye; the picture is obviously clearer and the image resolution is also higher.

The image resolution is also higher, the same distance HW3.0 can’t see the licence plate, HW4.0 can see it clearly; for the night or backlight, HW4.0 camera is also clearer; at the same time, the fisheye camera at the tail has a wider perspective, especially when reversing, it can provide more effective early-warning information; in addition, HW4.0 can see the text on the electronic signage clearly, and HW3.0 can’t see it clearly due to the screen’s strobe problem, sometimes it is difficult to see clearly.

The image enhancement makes the data capacity to be processed grow exponentially, and the system arithmetic demand increases. According to Tesla’s official expression, its chip arithmetic is 5 times of the original, which means it will be upgraded from 144TOPS in HW3.0 to 720TOPS in HW4.0, and the CPU cores are also upgraded from 12 to 20, in order to help process the image information quickly.

Meanwhile, the CPU memory has been upgraded from LPDDR4 to GDDR6 in order to allow for faster image big data transfers.Additionally, the chip manufacturing process has been upgraded as well. The image seen by the Tesla camera has also changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and the objects seen are more three-dimensional, allowing for a better reproduction of a real world. Both the Intelligent Driver Assistance System and the Active Safety System can help the vehicle better judge the objects around it, and the object has changed from a point to a cube.

HW4.0 improves Tesla’s Autopilot with better vision, judgement, and safety features, especially in extreme weather. It enables more accurate automatic emergency braking and lane departure. This new hardware is a significant upgrade for Autopilot, which currently offers high-speed pilot assistance. Tesla’s official fact sheet states that HW4.0 uses advanced algorithms for autonomous driving, and a trial version of fully self-driving (FSD) is already being tested in the US for city roads. The computing power of HW4.0 is five times greater than the previous HW3.0, reaching 720TOPS, making it a leader in chip technology, second only to Azera.

What does the Tesla HW 4.0 implementation mean?

Currently, the US market has gone online with FSD, which will have better performance based on the HW4.0 hardware system, and can realise automatic assisted driving on city roads, while the human takeover rate can be very low. From the overseas image video, FSD can be like a mature driver, face the driving scene to make a quick response, such as traffic lights after the light change to be able to start quickly, left turn waiting for the object of the incoming car, can be like a veteran driver, in the vehicle passes by at the same time start in advance.

Fsd can identify road signs and make judgments accordingly. It can stop for pedestrians and navigate complex road conditions. Once trust is established, the car can take over the steering wheel. It can handle narrow and unmarked roads safely. However, road participants in other countries include bicycles, e-bikes, and rickshaw pushers. In the US, a STOP sign requires a complete stop, regardless of other cars.

Can FSD be used in non-US areas?

Regarding when FSD will be able to land overseas, we also consulted Tesla’s official customer service, who told us that the new Model 3, Model Y, Model S (Panorama View), and Model X overseas are currently equipped with the latest HW4.0 hardware system, but there is no relevant FSD software push yet, and as for when FSD will be rolled out overseas, there is currently no specific time cut-off point.

The old owner of the optional subscription FSD consumers, whether you can upgrade the HW4.0 hardware for free, the official also said that there is no specific programme introduced. Previously, the earliest batch of overseas Tesla owners, when the hardware system is still using HW2.5, but then Tesla launched the HW3.0 hardware, the old owners or the way of the rights of the final only to strive for a free upgrade to HW3.0, but also limited to the subscription of the FSD users.

In recent years, Tesla has started to replace its cars with the HW 4.0 computer suite, which optimises assisted driving technology and driving safety. Recently, Tesla has further announced the launch of the new HW 5.0 at the 2024 annual shareholders’ meeting, claiming that the performance of the new HW 5.0 will be several times better than that of the current HW 4.0, and it is expected to be officially launched in 2025.

As for the HW 3.0 on older models, Musk said that it will be retired from production in the future, but Tesla will still optimise HW 3.0, but also reiterated that it does not plan to offer HW 3.0 upgrades to HW 4.0.

Samsung and TSMC HW 5.0

According to Musk, HW 5.0 will be called “AI 5” and is expected to be launched in about 18 months, around December 2025. Musk said that HW 5.0/AI 5 will have 10 times the performance of HW 4.0, which is already 5 times higher than HW 3.0. However, Musk also mentioned that the power consumption of HW 5.0/AI 5 will be much higher at around 800 W, compared to around 200 W for HW 3.0 and HW 4.0.

Prepare for mass production

On 18 July 2024, Korean media reported that Samsung Electronics will produce a new generation of FSD chips for Tesla HW 5.0. The chip will be manufactured using Samsung’s 4nm process and is expected to support L5-level autopilot functions.

You read that right, it’s HW 5.0 !!!! As for HW5.0 whether there will be a “qualitative” leap, really curious, or look forward to the official announcement!