Speculation has been rife for quite some time now as to when Tesla might introduce its new Hardware 4. The currently installed hardware 3 has already moved into the current Tesla models about 4 years ago. The last sighted Tesla that is still wrapped up Model 3 as well as first leaked shots from the Gigafactory Shanghai point to an imminent changeover. Now, Elon Musk has confirmed two major ventures for 2023 in the latest fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. He said the Tesla Cybertruck remains on track to begin production this year. Elon Musk's exact wording is "maybe sometime in the summer." In addition, he said again that the Cybertruck will introduce the fourth hardware generation for the Autopilot system, but there will be no conversion of older vehicles to the aforementioned HW4. The cost and difficulty of upgrading from hardware 3 to hardware 4 is quite high, he said. Therefore, according to Elon Musk, it is not economically feasible to handle this conversion.
However, he clarified that he still believes that Tesla can fulfill the full promise of the self-driving car with the current Hardware 3, which should ease the concerns of many owners. To this, Elon Musk adds that the new Hardware 4 will be superior to the familiar Hardware 3, but he is confident that Hardware 3 will far exceed the safety of the average person. As an example, Elon Musk said that Hardware 3 can be around 200% - 300% safer than humans. With the new Hardware 4, we will manage around 500% - 600% here. But what really matters is that the average road safety will be improved and this is also possible with Hardware 3.
