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Tesla Model 3 gets Full Self-Driving HW3 upgrade: Full details with lessons learned
True to Elon Musk’s expectations on Twitter last month, it appears that Tesla is now looking to ramp Hardware 3 retrofits for owners who purchased the Full Self-Driving suite and whose cars are equipped with HW2 or HW2.5. A recent account involving a Tesla owner-enthusiast’s experience with her Model 3’s HW3 upgrade shows that there are still some areas in the retrofit process that can be improved.
Tesla Model 3 owner-enthusiast TeslaJoy was looking to do a video on the company’s recent voice command update when she noticed that the feature on her vehicle was not working properly. This prompted her to make an appointment with Tesla to get her car checked in and fixed. During the troubleshooting process, she inquired if a possible HW3 retrofit could be done to her vehicle as well. Fortunately, a HW3 unit was available for her Model 3, and so, a rather eventful upgrade process began.
Tesla Service Centers currently receive batches of HW3 units from the electric car maker, and each unit is assigned to a specific VIN. This is the reason why for now, at least, owners are not advised to call Tesla to schedule a HW3 retrofit. Fortunately for Joy, the Tesla Service Center opted to perform the HW3 upgrade at the same time as her appointment, since she would need to bring her Model 3 back for a retrofit anyway.
Since the retrofit was estimated to take around 5 hours, Tesla asked the Model 3 owner to leave her car for the day and claim it the next business day. That was December 31, which meant that the vehicle should be ready the day after New Year’s. As it would turn out, the Service Center would end up encountering difficulties installing the necessary firmware on Joy’s Model 3. This resulted in delays, which culminated in the vehicle’s HW3 retrofit being completed on January 5, 2020, over five days after the Model 3 owner turned in her car.
Hardware 3 retrofits are available for owners who have purchased Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite, and whose cars are still equipped with the company’s HW2 and HW2.5 units. With Hardware 3 installed, owners will be able to utilize the full suite of FSD capabilities that the company is rolling out today. One of these is the FSD preview that Tesla rolled out for the holidays, as well as features like traffic cone recognition.
True to Elon Musk’s words on Twitter, the HW3 retrofit is free for owners who have purchased the company’s FSD suite. Joy, for her part, was able to get FSD last March at a discounted price of $2,000 on top of her Enhanced Autopilot. FSD currently costs $7,000 when it is included in a new vehicle’s order.
Based on Joy’s experience, it appears that owners should expect to wait some time for their vehicles are set to be retrofitted. In the Model 3 owner’s case, her car’s upgrade ended up taking days since the first HW3 kit that was installed did not function properly. This resulted in the vehicle essentially getting retrofitted twice, causing delays. Tesla did give Joy a $500 Uber voucher due to the absence of loaner vehicles, but the whole experience showed notable points for improvement nonetheless.
In a way, TeslaJoy‘s experience with her Model 3’s HW3 retrofit stands in stark contrast with the experiences of Model S owner Sofiaan Fraval, whose car was upgraded by a Service Center during a voluntary HEPA replacement. In Fraval’s case, his Model S was fully retrofitted within a matter of hours, and it was calibrated in pretty much the same day. A Tesla Model S owner who runs the Electric Dreams YouTube channel also received his vehicle’s HW3 retrofit without any issues, and it was performed by a mobile technician, not a Service Center.
In the Electric Dreams host’s case, the entire HW3 retrofit was conducted from the convenience of his home, with a mobile service tech coming over in the morning, taking an hour and a half for the installation to be completed, and an additional two hours for the necessary firmware to be loaded onto the vehicle. This is in line with Elon Musk’s previous statement on Twitter, where he stated that HW3 retrofits should be possible through Tesla’s mobile service fleet.
Overall, there seems to be a variance with regards to the experience of owners when getting their vehicles retrofitted with Tesla’s FSD computer. Some owners seem to be experiencing a seamless, painless process, while some, like Joy, end up having to test their patience. Hopefully, as Tesla ramps its HW3 retrofits this quarter, the company could work in optimizing its upgrade process, so there are more experiences like the Electric Dreams host’s, and less like TeslaJoy‘s.
Watch TeslaJoy‘s HW3 experience in the video below.
Elon Musk
SpaceX and xAI tapped by Pentagon for autonomous drone contest
The six-month competition was launched in January and is said to carry a $100 million award.
SpaceX and its AI subsidiary xAI are reportedly competing in a new Pentagon prize challenge focused on autonomous drone swarming technology, as per a report from Bloomberg News.
The six-month competition was launched in January and is said to carry a $100 million award.
Bloomberg reported that SpaceX and xAI are among a select group invited to participate in the Defense Department’s effort to develop advanced drone swarming capabilities. The goal is reportedly to create systems that can translate voice commands into digital instructions and manage fleets of autonomous drones.
Neither SpaceX, xAI, nor the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit has commented on the report, and Reuters said it could not independently verify the details.
The development follows SpaceX’s recent acquisition of xAI, which pushed the valuation of the combined companies to an impressive $1.25 trillion. The reported competition comes as SpaceX prepares for a potential initial public offering later this year.
The Pentagon has been moving to speed up drone deployment and expand domestic manufacturing capacity, while also seeking tools to counter unauthorized drone activity around airports and major public events. Large-scale gatherings scheduled this year, including the FIFA World Cup and America250 celebrations, have heightened focus on aerial security.
The reported challenge aligns with broader Defense Department investments in artificial intelligence. Last year, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI secured Pentagon contracts worth up to $200 million each to advance AI capabilities across defense applications.
Elon Musk previously joined AI and robotics researchers in signing a 2015 open letter calling for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons. In recent years, however, Musk has spoken on X about the strengths of drone technologies in combat situations.
News
Doug DeMuro names Tesla Model S the Most Important Car of the last 30 years
In a recent video, the noted reviewer stated that the choice was “not even a question.”
Popular automotive reviewer and YouTuber Doug DeMuro has named the 2012 Tesla Model S as the most important car of the last 30 years.
In a recent video, the noted reviewer stated that the choice was “not even a question,” arguing that the Model S did more to change the trajectory of the auto industry than any other vehicle released since the mid-1990s.
“Unquestionably in my mind, the number one most important car of the last 30 years… it’s not even a question,” DeMuro said. “The 2012 Tesla Model S. There is no doubt that that is the most important car of the last 30 years.”
DeMuro acknowledged that electric vehicle adoption has faced recent headwinds. Still, he maintained that long-term electrification is inevitable.
“If you’re a rational person who’s truthful with yourself, you know that the future is electric… whether it’s 10, 20, 30 years, the future will be electric, and it was the Model S that was the very first car that did that truthfully,” he said.
While earlier EVs like the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt arrived before the Model S, DeMuro argued that they did not fundamentally shift public perception. The Model S proved that EVs “could be cool, could be fast, could be luxurious, could be for enthusiasts.” It showed that buyers did not have to make major compromises to drive electric.
He also described the Model S as a cultural turning point. Tesla became more than a car company. The brand expanded into Superchargers, home energy products, and a broader tech identity.
DeMuro noted that the Leaf and Volt “made a huge splash and taught us that it was possible.” However, he drew a distinction between being first and bringing a technology into the mainstream.
“It’s rarely about the car that does it first. It’s about the car that brings it into the mainstream,” he said. “The Model S was the car that actually won the game even though the Leaf and Volt scored the first.”
He added that perhaps the Model S’ most surprising achievement was proving that a new American automaker could succeed. For decades, industry observers believed the infrastructure and capital requirements made that nearly impossible.
“For decades, it was generally agreed that there would never be another competitive American car company because the infrastructure and the investment required to start up another American car company as just too challenging… It was just a given basically that you couldn’t do it. And not only did they go it, but they created a cultural icon… That car just truly changed the world,” he said.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk doubles down on Tesla Cybercab timeline once again
“Cybercab, which has no pedals or steering wheel, starts production in April,” Musk said.
CEO Elon Musk doubled down once again on the timeline of production for the Tesla Cybercab, marking yet another example of the confidence he has in the company’s ability to meet the aggressive timeline for the vehicle.
It is the third time in the past six months that Musk has explicitly stated Cybercab will enter production in April 2026.
On Monday morning, Musk reiterated that Cybercab will enter its initial manufacturing phase in April, and that it would not have any pedals or a steering wheel, two things that have been speculated as potential elements of the vehicle, if needed.
Cybercab, which has no pedals or steering wheel, starts production in April https://t.co/yShxZ2HJqp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 16, 2026
Musk has been known to be aggressive with timelines, and some products have been teased for years and years before they finally come to fruition.
One of perhaps the biggest complaints about Musk is the fact that Tesla does not normally reach the deadlines that are set: the Roadster, Semi, and Unsupervised Full Self-Driving suite are a few of those that have been given “end of this year” timelines, but have not been fulfilled.
Nevertheless, many are able to look past this as part of the process. New technology takes time to develop, but we’d rather not hear about when, and just the progress itself.
However, the Cybercab is a bit different. Musk has said three times in the past six months that Cybercab will be built in April, and this is something that is sort of out of the ordinary for him.
In December 2025, he said that Tesla was “testing the production system” of the vehicle and that “real production ramp starts in April.
Elon Musk shares incredible detail about Tesla Cybercab efficiency
On January 23, he said that “Cybercab production starts in April.” He did the same on February 16, marking yet another occasion that Musk has his sights set on April for initial production of the vehicle.
Musk has also tempered expectations for the Cybercab’s initial production phase. In January, he noted that Cybercab would be subjected to the S-curve-type production speed:
“…initial production is always very slow and follows an S-curve. The speed of production ramp is inversely proportionate to how many new parts and steps there are. For Cybercab and Optimus, almost everything is new, so the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast.”
Cybercab will be a huge part of Tesla’s autonomous ride-sharing plans moving forward.
SpaceX and xAI tapped by Pentagon for autonomous drone contest
Doug DeMuro names Tesla Model S the Most Important Car of the last 30 years
