With a normal automaker, changes to vehicle hardware would be announced months ahead of time. After launch, there would be a swarm of press releases, Twitters posts, YouTube videos, and possibly even TV commercials from the brand detailing every little improvement and fix. As has been widely established, Tesla is not a normal automaker and has, at least according to early reports, started equipping new hardware on some of its recently manufactured cars. Not so much as a whisper has come from Tesla’s official media channels announcing the change.
According to a Twitter post, a new Model Y at a delivery lot was spotted with an updated suite of cameras and sensors mounted behind the windshield and on the front fenders of the car. The new hardware has been dubbed “Hardware 4.0.” Although nothing has been confirmed by the company, the new sensors and cameras are likely part of Tesla’s controversial Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.
Not so much as a tweet from Tesla
Reportedly the hardware and related software has already been implemented on the Tesla Model S and X, according to Electrek. If Ford, General Motors, or virtually every other automaker did the same thing and started rolling out fairly substantial changes to the Ford F-150 Lightning, Cadillac Lyriq, or other EVs, it would confuse the entire automotive media world. But this is almost par for the course for Tesla. This is, after all, the same company that helped launch a Roadster into space and raises/lowers the price of its lineup randomly.
If Tesla and/or Elon Musk acknowledges the change, don’t expect a huge news push. The acknowledgment will likely take the form of a single informal post or reply on Twitter, possibly followed by a press release or footnote somewhere on Tesla’s site after the fact.
Hopefully, the new hardware will improve Tesla’s already much-maligned FSD systems which have been the subject of wide-reaching recalls in the past.