Hardware 4 Live in Model Ys
On May 25th, images surfaced on twitter showing some Model Ys shipping from Tesla’s Fremont plant in California - not unusual by any stretch, but on closer inspection it seems that some of the new vehicles were equipped with Hardware 4 self-driving tech.
The Kilowatts - an EV review channel on Youtube - posted a series of images on their Twitter page showing the new models and comparing the differences between the older Hardware 3 and newer Hardware 4 models.
It is admittedly difficult to spot the difference at first, but take a second to look over that camera lens, and the material the device sits in. The alleged Hardware 4 model has a larger lens, and sits at a slightly wider angle - and the material looks different. Some folks are suggesting the new material helps keep the camera clean - or maybe it’s a tougher plastic - but we can’t tell from the pictures alone.
What we can tell from the pictures though, is that these are the cameras designed to go along with the new Hardware 4 self-driving computers that Tesla debuted at their Investor Day event back in March.
There was a lot of talk during that presentation about how much of an upgrade this new computer is over the older model - but the most important takeaway for us is the extra - and updated - camera support.
Back in February, some specs of prototype Hardware 4 gear were leaked which showed - among other things - that the new computer had 12 camera connectors. At the time, folks suspected that the newer model Tesla vehicles were going to be adding cameras to the front and rear bumpers - as that was a noted blindspot for FSD systems.
That was before Investor Day swooped in and showed off all that amazing new tech - including the new FSD visualisation systems which would be making use of new and improved cameras and the Hardware 4 computer.
And to go with that, the codes for the new hardware have popped up in inventory codes - which is a more solid indication, but we likely wouldn’t have known unless the new cameras had been spotted.
So that’s why we’re think these Model Ys have the new computer in them. And honestly it’s not impossible.
We know that Tesla has been preparing their newer vehicles for the hardware and software updates they told us about during Investor Day. There’s been no reports of the newer tech giving better performance just yet - so it’s not likely to have the software it needs to run at full capacity yet - especially since Tesla hasn’t announced the upgraded hardware.
But it probably won’t take long. Tesla was really proud of their new tech in their presentations, so they’re probably just waiting for something to show it off with before making it official - Project Juniper maybe?