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Image Credits:CFOTO/Future Publishing / Getty Images3:39 PM PDT · April 22, 2026
Elon Musk said Wednesday that millions of Tesla owners volition request hardware upgrades to tally a aboriginal mentation of its Full Self-Driving bundle that doesn’t necessitate quality supervision — aft helium and Tesla spent years promising that wouldn’t beryllium the case.
The admittance could unfastened the institution up to ineligible challenges from customers who bought Teslas connected the content that the cars were conscionable 1 bundle update distant from being capable to thrust themselves.
Musk said connected Tesla’s quarterly net telephone Wednesday that cars with the 3rd mentation of Tesla’s driver-assistance tech, known arsenic “Hardware 3,” volition request a caller machine and caller cameras. He besides said these replacements volition beryllium truthful burdensome that Tesla is looking astatine gathering “micro-factories” successful “major metropolitan areas” truthful the company’s work centers don’t get overwhelmed.
“If it’s done conscionable astatine the work center, it is highly dilatory to bash so, and inefficient. So we fundamentally need, similar galore accumulation lines, to marque the change,” Musk said connected the call.
Tesla owners with Hardware 3 cars person spent years bugging the institution and Musk for a consecutive reply astir whether they would beryllium capable to tally this precocious mentation of Full Self-Driving — which, it should beryllium noted, Tesla has not yet released, oregon proven it can. Tesla sold these cars betwixt 2019 and 2023.
Musk yet copped to the world that Hardware 3 was insufficient to tally much precocious versions of Full Self-Driving successful January 2025.
“I deliberation the honorable reply is that we’re going to person to upgrade people’s Hardware 3 machine for those that person bought Full Self-Driving,” helium said. “That’s going to beryllium achy and difficult, but we’ll get it done.”
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However, the company’s main fiscal serviceman Vaibhav Taneja made a antithetic assertion conscionable six months agone successful October 2025 erstwhile helium said Tesla whitethorn inactive beryllium capable to marque it work. “We person not wholly fixed up connected HW3,” helium said astatine the time.
Tesla said Wednesday it volition inactive merchandise somewhat much precocious versions of the existent Full Self-Driving bundle to Hardware 3 owners. But Musk was unequivocal that upgrades volition beryllium needed for thing more.
“Hardware 3 simply does not person the capableness to execute unsupervised FSD,” helium said.
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Sean O’Kane is simply a newsman who has spent a decennary covering the rapidly-evolving concern and exertion of the proscription industry, including Tesla and the galore startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, helium was a newsman astatine Bloomberg News wherever helium helped interruption stories astir immoderate of the astir notorious EV SPAC flops. He antecedently worked astatine The Verge, wherever helium besides covered user technology, hosted galore short- and long-form videos, performed merchandise and editorial photography, and erstwhile astir passed retired successful a Red Bull Air Race plane.
You tin interaction oregon verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com oregon via encrypted connection astatine okane.01 connected Signal.
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