Musk practically admitted that older Teslas may or may not become fully self-driving –

Tesla has a long and challenging road to full self-driving capabilities. Recently, however, it has become clear that the road ahead of the company may be more difficult and complex than originally expected. In a conference call following the company’s third-quarter 2024 financial results, CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that Tesla vehicles equipped with older self-driving hardware may not be able to achieve full autonomy.

The latest HW4 system, which was introduced last year, has a significantly higher capacity than the HW3. According to Musk, “it’s easier to get things working on HW4, and it’s going to take a lot of effort to bring it all to HW3.” This means that while the HW3’s cameras would be “able” to do this, the HW4’s cameras have significantly higher resolution and better low-light performance. But for owners of older hardware, this may be a cause for concern, having been promised for years that their vehicles would soon be able to drive themselves.

Musk raised the possibility of offering free updates to owners who purchased the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package for their HW3-equipped vehicles. However, this is not as easy as it sounds, as the HW4 system uses different power and camera cables and the computer is different, which can make upgrading existing vehicles complicated and expensive.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that the computational requirements of FSD systems are enormous. Tesla is forced to constantly update the hardware to meet the requirements of the software. Vehicles must achieve a level of safety that is acceptable to regulatory authorities and, of course, to the public, which poses additional challenges for the company. NHTSA is already investigating Tesla cars for a fatal crash that occurred in low visibility conditions.

William Stein, a technology analyst at Truist Securities, recently test drove a Tesla car equipped with the FSD system and found that the vehicle made dangerous or illegal maneuvers. This points to the fact that while Tesla has already activated FSD in more than 500,000 vehicles, they are still not fully autonomous and drivers must remain alert, ready to take control at any moment.

Overall, Tesla’s self-driving technology still faces many challenges. The company is constantly working to improve the technology and increase the level of security, but the future is uncertain and the achievement of full autonomy may still be a long way off.