Tesla Hacker: Hints Of Model S, X Refresh, Semi Hardware In Code

Tesla Inc's TSLA vehicles are always improving. The company does not typically wait for a new model year to add updates to cars like traditional manufacturers.

Even after they're sold, the cars are constantly improving with over-the-air software updates that add new capabilities and better efficiencies.

It appears Tesla is hard at work on some new hardware for the Tesla Semi and the Model S and X, which could point to a refresh occurring soon. 

Known Tesla hacker Green digs into the code on his Tesla vehicle and often finds new information.

Now he has found some code pointing to new Full Self Driving hardware for the Tesla Semi.

The semi is getting an extra camera, bringing the total to 10 vs. the nine found on Tesla vehicles currently for sale, he said.

The additional camera only seems to be found on the right side of the vehicle, but more information is needed.

Hm, I did not notice at first, but it seems production autopilot code has a little bit of Semi code in it too

Interesting to know that Semi only has 10 cameras, the extra camera is "right repeater 2", so just one right repeater was not enough.
Also it's currently also on hw3.2

— green (@greentheonly) December 30, 2020

Green also talks about this same hw3.2 — Hardware 3.2 — code for the Model S and X. The updates would bring an interior camera to these vehicles.

The interior camera is only found on Model 3 and Y. Rumors of a refresh for the S and X have been going for a long time, as the body styles have remained largely unchanged since the initial release. 

With Plaid updates coming in 2021, it is not a surprise that we may see a new S and X interior and exterior style. The cars often update to improve efficiency and other qualities. Tesla most likely also wants to unify its self driving hardware across all cars to keep the features similar and easy to update. 

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Photo courtesy of Tesla.