Tesla has taken another step towards its goal of fully autonomous vehicles with its latest self-driving hardware, Hardware 4 or HW4. The American electric vehicle manufacturer has started delivering some of its Model Y vehicles from its Fremont factory in California with the latest HW4 installed. The new HW4 hardware is designed to move Tesla towards a vision-based autonomy system and away from its current reliance on radar sensors.
One way to differentiate between HW3 and HW4 is through the side repeater. HW4 has a larger exposed glass element, a larger casing around the cameras, a red glare on the lens element coating, and a shorter light above the lens. These differences are essential because HW4 has more powerful cameras than HW3, The new hardware’s better suited for Tesla’s transition to vision-only autonomy by ditching radars altogether.
Tesla has been developing HW4 for some time, with the first leaked images of the computer appearing earlier this year. The company started installing HW4 on its flagship vehicles, the Model S and Model X, earlier this year. The slow rollout is helping to evaluate the early performance of the new computer, which is a critical step towards Tesla’s goal of fully autonomousvehicles.
The new HW4 hardware has already helped with some assisted driving operations, including unprotected turns, and is expected to be an important step in Tesla’s future plans for the release of a complete FSD suite and its Robotaxi program. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously stated that HW 3.0 provides a level of safety that exceeds that of human driving, and the company plans to solve full self-driving by the end of this year.
So, if you’re in the market for a new Tesla Model Y, make sure to check the VIN number to see if it comes equipped with HW4, if the VIN number ends with a digit greater than 789500, you can be sure that your vehicle is fitted with the latest self-driving hardware, HW4. On the other hand, if the VIN number ends with a digit less than 789300, then your Model Y is equipped with the previous generation of self-driving hardware, HW3. Which promises to provide even better self-driving capabilities. With Tesla leading the charge towards vision-based autonomy and the release of a complete FSD suite, the future of self-driving cars looks bright. Are you excited about the latest advancements in self-driving technology?
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