Musk says Tesla HW3 cars need upgrades for FSD

Summary

Musk said Tesla cars with Hardware 3 will need new computers and cameras for a future unsupervised Full Self-Driving system.

Why this matters

The update affects millions of Tesla owners who bought vehicles sold as capable of future self-driving through software updates. It also clarifies limits of Tesla’s existing hardware as the company pursues unsupervised driving.

Elon Musk said Wednesday that millions of Tesla owners will need hardware upgrades to use a future version of Full Self-Driving that does not require human supervision.

On Tesla’s quarterly earnings call, Musk said cars with the third version of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology, known as Hardware 3, will need a new computer and new cameras. Tesla sold those vehicles from 2019 to 2023.

Musk said Tesla was considering building “micro-factories” in “major metropolitan areas” to handle the replacements rather than relying only on service centers.

“If it’s done just at the service center, it is extremely slow to do so, and inefficient. So we basically need, like many production lines, to make the change,” Musk said.

Tesla owners with Hardware 3 vehicles had sought clarity for years on whether those cars would be able to run a future version of Full Self-Driving. Tesla has not released that version or demonstrated that it can do so.

Musk said in January 2025 that Hardware 3 was not sufficient for more advanced versions of Full Self-Driving.

“I think the honest answer is that we’re going to have to upgrade people’s Hardware 3 computer for those that have bought Full Self-Driving,” he said.

However, Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said in October 2025 that the company had not ruled out making it work on Hardware 3.

“We have not completely given up on HW3,” he said at the time.

Tesla said Wednesday it would still release somewhat more advanced versions of the current Full Self-Driving software for Hardware 3 owners. But Musk said more would be required for unsupervised use.

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