Tesla HW3 Runs Smaller FSD Model Than AI4; Performance To Be Similar (2024)

Yesterday we broke the news that Tesla has finally been able to add support for hardware 3 with FSD v12.5.1.4. The update is version 2024.26.15 and is currently being tested by Tesla employees.

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Autopilot director, commented on our article and gave additional insight into how Tesla was able to add support for HW3 and what they’re working on next. He confirmed that Tesla’s FSD team was able to achieve similar performance between AI4 and HW3 with FSD V12.5

Similar Performance, Smaller Model

One of the key points Ashok mentioned was that HW3’s FSD 12.5 release has similar, but not exactly the same performance as the AI4 release. This appears to be due to the smaller AI model for HW3, which has been compute-constrained by memory and speed limitations.

Of course, Ashok also tells us to mind the fact that the parameter counts and size of the AI model aren’t exactly everything. Hardware 3 still has the advantage of being the primary focus of Tesla’s FSD teams until the new Supercomputer Cluster at Giga Texas comes online. That, plus the tremendous reams of data that Tesla has acquired from Hardware 3 vehicles on the road today means that the current Hardware 3 version of FSD V12.5 is probably in a pretty good spot.

Larger Model Coming to HW3

It looks like the Tesla FSD team is working on emulating AI4 in Hardware 3 now, as there are some unique hardware-based operations supported on AI4, that aren’t supported on Hardware 3. Ashok says that in order for Tesla to support the larger model on HW3 they’ll need to implement these AI4’s hardware features with software on HW3. He confirms that Tesla is actively implementing and verifying these operations and they plan to support the larger FSD model on HW3 in the future.

Right now it sounds like Tesla is compressing the model, but still able to get close to the same FSD performance of AI4.

We’re looking forward to seeing FSD 12.5 hitting HW3 vehicles in the upcoming weeks if all goes well with initial employee testing.

We were able to achieve similar performance as the AI4 12.5 release with a relatively smaller model for AI3. Deploying the larger model requires us to implement a few kernels in the compiler to emulate the same operations that are natively supported on the AI4 hardware. The team…

— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) August 21, 2024

Positive Future

One of the keys here is Ashok has focused on mentioning that the same FSD V12.5 model can run on both hardware platforms in the future. He noted that the performance was similar, but not the same. We’re not quite sure how big the difference is going to be just yet, but it looks to be negligible – especially from the positivity behind his post.

Ashok also doesn’t mention FSD V12.6 or future major iterations of FSD, but we aren’t worried. It sounds like Tesla is still committed to supporting HW3 in future iterations of FSD working, so it looks like it’ll be in a good spot for the foreseeable future.

According to an inside source who spoke to Bloomberg, Tesla will be hosting the Robotaxi reveal on October 10th at Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s movie studio in Los Angeles, rather than at Giga Texas, where they’ve normally held reveal events.

Hollywood Reveal

The Warner Bros. studio is a massive space, covering over 110 acres. The area has an array of different simulated city street scenarios generally used to record movies, rather than a large stage like at Giga Texas.

It seems that Tesla wants to demonstrate Robotaxi’s capabilities at Warner Bros. studio to attendees, where it will serve as a real-life simulacrum of what it will actually be like to request a Tesla Cybercab from the Tesla app, and then experience the actual ride from point A to point B.

Rather than testing on real city streets and closing off a huge portion of a town, or even setting up a local simulation outside of Giga Texas, Tesla has instead opted to use the pre-built facilities at the studio, which will provide a whole host of fairly realistic scenarios. The 110 acres provide ample space for several Robotaxi vehicles to roam around on the grounds, without intruding on real traffic or impeding pedestrians for a system that currently is unapproved.

Tesla has been working diligently with municipal, state, and federal agencies to have Robotaxi in an approved state for its future launch, but this process will likely take some time. This is a pretty good alternative for getting people into real vehicles and taking them on real trips for a reveal event.

Tickets and Attendance

So far, nothing has shown up through the usual sources for how to acquire tickets or when they will become available. Tesla may use the newly re-launched Referral Program, which also recently launched in Canada, to let attendees get tickets.

We’re hoping to find out more details on the exact cost, but if they use the referral system, it may cost three referrals ($1,500 USD). Tesla’s Cybertruck event was 30,000 credits, which was three referrals. Tesla will still require attendees to travel to the location themselves and work out all travel costs on their own.

Rivian recently launched its own referral system and is going to hold an all-expenses paid trip for its top 100 referrers, which includes flight, meals, and accommodations (visit our new Rivian site, Rivian Wave for details).

We’ve previously looked at awesome Robotaxi concepts, so take a look at them and let us know what you’re looking forward to in the forums. Perhaps we might even get more than a Robotaxi announcement… wireless charging would definitely be a fitting announcement.

Tesla has recently purchased a 40,000-square-foot parking lot in Queens, New York City, for $18 million USD. Tesla picked up this property lot just recently, according to New York City records that showed the purchase price and details, as of Monday, August 26^th.

Super-sized Supercharger?

This huge parking lot is likely intended to be developed into a fairly large Supercharger site for downtown Queens, as the deal was inked by Max de Zegher, Director of Tesla Charging. As we checked the deed and development records, it seems that Tesla does indeed plan on establishing a Supercharger site there. The exact number of stalls isn’t included in the planning documents just yet.

The lot is located at 48-26 54^th Road, (that’s a lot of numbers!), and has 55 regular parking spots as it is currently designed, with an additional 3 wheelchair/accessibility spaces. This fairly large site will help reduce traffic and congestion at Tesla’s other Supercharger sites throughout the city once it's completed and operational. Space in the area comes at a premium and Tesla likely thought it’d be worth purchasing the lot instead of leasing space like they usually do.

Yellow (and Blue!) Cabs

New York City has a lot of Teslas – in fact, a lot of yellow ones! Gravity Taxi runs many yellow Model Y’s throughout the city as part of their yellow taxicab service, while Revel runs blue Model Y’s as part of their rideshare service. In addition, NYC’s Greenrides Initiative mandates that all for-hire vehicles, including taxicabs, must be EVs as of March 2024. This huge push has resulted in considerable charging congestion within New York, and there have been multiple new DC fast-charging locations in the works with other vendors.

We’re happy to see Tesla’s Supercharger sites still coming up, especially after the big cuts in the Supercharger team earlier this year. It’s a good indication that Tesla is still focused on expanding their charging footprint, especially in areas with heavy concentrations of Tesla EVs.