Cybertruck self-driving may take a while to perfect as Elon Musk reveals why HW4 is an afterthought

Tesla will pay more attention to existing vehicle owners and prioritize work on optimizing new FSD updates for their Hardware 3 kit, as well as international releases, rather than tailor it to Hardware 4 cars that are still few and far between. "HW4 software will lag HW3 by at least another six months, as our focus needs to be on getting FSD on HW3 working super well and provided internationally," clarified Elon Musk over the weekend.

So far, Tesla has only been equipping new Model S and Model X batches with HW4 computers, new Vision cameras, and even a radar. It recently started installing Hardware 4.0 motherboards on some Model Y units as well, but in a trimmed down form when it comes to infotainment processing power or connectors, plus they also don't come with radars.

It seems that the first Tesla vehicles with the complete HW4 camera set that includes more sensors with higher resolution may actually be the Cybertruck and the Model 3 Highland facelift which have spy shots depicting a new camera in the front bumper, as well as new side cameras. Rumors, however, peg the Tesla Model 3 Highland HW4 computer as being similar to the type Tesla installs in the Model Y in order to lower its production costs as much as possible.

Thus, the Cybertruck may be the only Tesla vehicle with both the more powerful HW4 computer, the full set of high-res Samsung cameras for Tesla Vision duties, and a radar. Unfortunately, as per Elon Musk, this won't mean that FSD sessions will be better with the Cybertruck, if the Full Self-Driving Beta option is available at all for Cybertruck owners upon launch.

Elon Musk's own admission that FSD software development for a Cybertruck with Hardware 4.0 will lag that of, say, a Model Y on HW3 until next spring, may turn out to be somewhat off-putting for future Cybertruck and Model 3 Highland owners.

The tidbit that Tesla is working hard to launch FSD outside the US, like in China, should be music to the ears of current Tesla EV owners there, though. Over the weekend, Elon Musk took the upcoming FSD Beta V12 for a test drive around Palo Alto, and mentioned that there are already V12 test drivers in places like New Zealand, Japan, Norway, or Thailand.

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