Musk gives no firm plan for Hardware 3 owners promised FSD
Asked directly on the Q2 earnings call whether Hardware 3 cars will be upgraded for the latest FSD, Musk said it would be "financially sensible at some point" — without committing to a timeline, method, or cost for the millions of owners still waiting.
On Tesla's Q2 earnings call, Musk was asked point-blank whether Tesla still plans to upgrade Hardware 3 (HW3) vehicles so they can run its latest FSD software. He said it would "make sense" to upgrade "all cars that have less than Hardware 4" and that it would be "financially sensible at some point" — but again offered no commitment on timing, method, or cost.
The issue has dragged on for years. Tesla sold HW3 vehicles on the promise that they had "all the hardware necessary" for full self-driving, yet the latest FSD performance is only fully realized on Hardware 4 and above. Electrek has previously reported Tesla may ultimately need to replace the onboard computer in as many as 4 million HW3 vehicles, or compensate owners instead.
A stopgap is already underway: Tesla has begun rolling out a stripped-down "FSD v14 Lite" to HW3 cars — a move critics say highlights the hardware gap rather than closing it.
For shareholders, two things are stacked here: trust with millions of owners, and the potential cost if a computer swap or compensation program becomes real. Both remain unresolved until Tesla commits to an actual roadmap.
Summaries are prepared by the Tesla Briefing editorial team and may not capture every nuance of the original reporting. You are solely responsible for your own investment decisions.