Photo: @greentheonly on Twitter
Tesla used to allow owners of older vehicles to update to newer infotainments systems. Sadly, this won’t be possible anymore, as a Tesla hacker revealed. It appears that Tesla changed the connectors and the bay size of its Media Control Units (MCU), so the newest MCU 3 is not compatible with vehicles launched with the MCU 2.
Tesla debuted a new MCU on their most recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Powered by an AMD Ryzen processor, the so-called MCU 3 is said to be as powerful as a modern game console when playing high-end 3D games. This has made a lot of Tesla owners want to upgrade their existing infotainment systems to the new MCU. This was indeed possible before for users with MCU 1 units, who were able to switch to an MCU 2 for a $2,000 price.
Unfortunately, this won’t be the case going forward, as Tesla changed a lot when switching to the latest AMD-based MCU 3. A close-up inspection of a new Model Y’s internals by the hacker Green (@greentheonly) reveals the upgrade is impossible due to a “totally different power and other harness and thickness of the unit.” As usual, the news has not been confirmed or denied by Tesla but, if proved accurate, it will certainly disappoint a lot of MCU 2 vehicle owners.
The Media Control Unit on Tesla vehicles handles everything onboard except the Full Self-Driving/Autopilot operations. It controls the touchscreen, the audio subsystem, WiFi, Cellular, Bluetooth, GPS, the Ethernet bridge, multiple CAN bus communications, the LIN bus, USB ports, and many more. As users with failed MCU 1 units discovered, it is impossible to use the car without the MCU working properly.
The first generation of the MCU came with an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and it was later replaced by a faster unit powered by an Intel Atom E8000 Series CPU. It added many more capabilities to Tesla vehicles, including video streaming and gaming. The third generation of the Tesla MCU launched on the Model S in 2021 with an AMD Ryzen processor vastly superior to the Intel Atom. This was later installed in the Model 3/Y as well.
Unfortunately, this won’t be the case going forward, as Tesla changed a lot when switching to the latest AMD-based MCU 3. A close-up inspection of a new Model Y’s internals by the hacker Green (@greentheonly) reveals the upgrade is impossible due to a “totally different power and other harness and thickness of the unit.” As usual, the news has not been confirmed or denied by Tesla but, if proved accurate, it will certainly disappoint a lot of MCU 2 vehicle owners.
The Media Control Unit on Tesla vehicles handles everything onboard except the Full Self-Driving/Autopilot operations. It controls the touchscreen, the audio subsystem, WiFi, Cellular, Bluetooth, GPS, the Ethernet bridge, multiple CAN bus communications, the LIN bus, USB ports, and many more. As users with failed MCU 1 units discovered, it is impossible to use the car without the MCU working properly.
The first generation of the MCU came with an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and it was later replaced by a faster unit powered by an Intel Atom E8000 Series CPU. It added many more capabilities to Tesla vehicles, including video streaming and gaming. The third generation of the Tesla MCU launched on the Model S in 2021 with an AMD Ryzen processor vastly superior to the Intel Atom. This was later installed in the Model 3/Y as well.
Similar story played with original ModelY with unpopulated USB3 that then got populated in later revision.
— green (@greentheonly) April 16, 2022
Also retrofit for intel cars definitely looks impossible - totally different power and other harness and thickness of the unit.
New power connector seems Tesla-made pic.twitter.com/aEWgBYUBqr
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