Tesla entered into the car industry with their first EV, the original Tesla Roadster. It was more of a proof of concept as Tesla had bigger plans. Tesla's plan to enter the automobile market was to build an expensive, electric sports car that would have high margins and prove to the world what EVs could do.
Tesla planned to minimize their effort by focusing only on the electric components of the car, such as the drivetrain and battery. They would try to leverage other parts from existing auto manufacturers such as Lotus.
However, in the end Tesla ended up creating most of the parts themselves. The final Roadster utilized as little as 7% of the same parts as the Lotus Elise.
Tesla to replace cameras on Teslas with AP 2.0
Tesla didn't make the same mistake again. When they manufactured the Model S in 2012 they decided to build the car from the ground up themselves. The original Model S didn't have any driver assist features. It's hard to say whether Autopilot wasn't something Tesla had started developing yet, or whether they planned to start small and add to the car in later years.
In September 2014, Tesla introduced their first version of Autopilot. Tesla built the hardware, but left driver assist software up to MobilEye, a company that still focuses on creating driver assistance systems today.
With the introduction of Autopilot 2.0 in 2016, Tesla decided to ditch MobilEye and take their platform in-house. It was a sudden and messy breakup, but in the end it was the right decision for Tesla. Autopilot 2.0 took several years before catching up to the capabilities of AP 1.
Since the introduction of AP 2.0, Tesla has offered a FSD package. Many features were not available out of the gate, but Tesla has slowly developed more features that fall into their FSD package.
Although many features have come out as part of the package such as lane keeping, lane changing, Navigate on Autopilot, Smart Summon, Autopark and more, Tesla is still developing its true self driving system. The problem has been more difficult to solve than anybody in the industry realized. Tesla is now making great progress with their latest FSD Beta releases.
Since AP 2, Tesla has used different hardware such as cameras and processors, but camera placements have remained the same. Tesla wanted to keep camera placement consistent across their product lines. From the beginning Tesla developed these cameras and processors to be easily swappable when better technology comes along.
AP 2 Cameras to be Swapped
Autopilot 2.0 cameras had a filter that made it able to absorb more light but it reduced colors captured. At the time Tesla thought this trade off would be worth it, but they now realize that it's better to bring the cameras in line with the ones used today. Since the cameras were made to be swappable if needed, Tesla can go in and swap them out for the same cameras that are used today.
Don’t worry, Tesla prepared for this.
The cameras just pop right off and can be replaced with the latest model.
This is exactly what Tesla is doing. Any Tesla that has FSD and AP 2.0, Tesla will be replacing the camera modules with cameras in 2021 vehicles. The FSD computer will also be replaced with the FSD HW 3.0 computer.
Tesla is planning on introducing a HW 4.0 FSD computer with the introduction of the Cybertruck, but this computer is not meant for FSD 3.0 vehicles. Tesla beleives they can achieve FSD on 3.0 hardware, but 4.0 will give them some extra processing power to increase safety even more.
Yeah, although early production cars will need camera upgrades, as well as FSD computer (all included in the price)
The same will be true if Tesla realizes that 4K or wide-angle cameras are needed in the future. These cameras are relatively inexpensive and Tesla can swap out the hardware if needed in order to achieve FSD.
Elon confirmed on Twitter that all vehicles with FSD and AP 2.0 will indeed need to have their cameras replaced in order to get FSD on city streets. The amount of vehicles released with AP 2.0 was relatively small as Tesla soon moved to AP 2.5 roughly a year later.
Elon didn't mention any timeframe on when Tesla will be updating these cars but Tesla may be waiting for Tesla service demand to be reduced. The demand for Tesla service is at an all time high as the world starts to get back to some form of normal and there has been pent up demand for service as people are addressing issues from the past year.
When Tesla gets to updating these vehicles with newer cameras and FSD computers, there will be no cost to owners as the replacement will be completely free.
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Another quarter has passed, and that means it’s time to submit questions and vote for Tesla’s Q2 2025 Earnings Call. While Q1 was a tough quarter for the company, Q2 saw some recovery in sales, although there’s still some work to be done.
However, there’s always a lot to be excited about during Tesla’s Q&A session, where we usually learn a lot about future software improvements and upcoming vehicles. We may hear more about FSD Unsupervised, Robotaxi, or the more affordable vehicle, or its upcoming larger 6-seater Model Y, the Model Y L. Tesla also mentioned a potential FSD price hike back in the Q1 2025 Earnings Call, so that could be something that is brought up as well.
Tesla’s Q2 So Far
Tesla has already released their Q2 2025 Production and Delivery numbers, which were up from Q1 of this year, but still down compared to Q2 last year.
Production
Deliveries
Model 3/Y
396,835
373,728
Model S, X, and Cybertruck
13,409
10,394
Total
410,244
384,122
How to Submit & Vote
Tesla lets shareholders submit a question that will be voted on and may be answered during the Q&A session. To submit your own question or vote on an already submitted question, you’ll need to be a verified shareholder. You can go to Say’s platform and link your brokerage accounts.
Once it is verified, you’ll be able to log in and vote your shares on your own question, or on someone else’s question.
Here’s the link to get started on Say’s Tesla Q&A. You must submit your questions and votes by July 23rd, 2025, at 4:00 PM EDT.
Top Questions So Far
Unsurprisingly, people have already been submitting questions, and here are the top ones so far.
Can you give us some insight how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
And here are some other ones we found interesting:
Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year end?
Are front bumper cameras going to be necessary for unsupervised full self driving? If so, what is the companies plan to retrofit vehicles that do not have them?
Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years. We still do not know much about the HW4.
Earnings Call Details
Tesla will hold its earnings call on Wednesday, July 23rd, at 4:00 PM EDT. It's still early for an access link, but we’ll make sure we have a link up on the site before the earnings call that day.
If you do miss the earnings call, no worries. We will provide a full recap following the call, and we’ll also do some in-depth dives into what was said and what we know.
Tesla’s Summer Update, 2025.26, has finally launched, bringing with it a batch of interesting new features for some, and a bunch of quality-of-life improvements for everyone else.
Grok AI Assistant
The star of the Summer Update is Grok, xAI’s conversational AI assistant, which has now landed in Tesla vehicles. For now, it's available in any Tesla that has an AMD processor and is potentially coming to Intel-based vehicles in the near future. The feature is also only available in the U.S., but it’s expected to expand to other regions — hopefully soon.
Grok is in its first iteration as an in-vehicle assistant, and for now, cannot control the vehicle, which means that Tesla’s voice command system is still intact. However, there is a lot it can do already. Grok is activated by pressing and holding the voice button (right scroll wheel on older vehicles), while a short press of the button is still reserved for voice commands. Grok will support a wake word in the future, letting you activate it without pressing a button.
You don't need to sign into Grok to use it in your Tesla!
It can't currently control anything in the car, but it does seem context aware that it is in a vehicle. pic.twitter.com/IpatR7sjiJ
Once Grok is open, which can also be done by tapping the Grok app icon, users can tailor the AI personality according to their preferences by selecting a persona and voice of their choice.
There are also several other settings for Grok under the settings button. You can enable NSFW mode, Kids Mode, or disable access to your vehicle’s location.
Grok has contextual awareness of your vehicle location, which means it can provide relevant answers to questions like “Where should I go for dinner?”
Logging In Not Required
Grok is free with Premium Connectivity, or if you’re using your phone’s hotspot feature or connected to WiFi, so anyone can try it for free. In fact, you don’t even need to log in to start using Grok. However, logging in adds some additional features.
If you’d like to log in, you can do so by scanning the QR code in the vehicle, which will provide chat management and transcripts, SuperGrok access (if you pay for a subscription), and better privacy control.
Tesla has added a new Light Sync feature that pulses the vehicle’s ambient lighting in sync with the music being played. This option is turned on under Toybox > Light Sync. There are also a few options, including the ability to match the ambient light colors to the album’s artwork, instead of using your selected color.
In addition, in Park you can enable Rave Cave when parked, which cranks up the ambient lighting brightness to the maximum.
Dashcam App Update
The Dashcam app now allows you to adjust playback speeds, just like the older Dashcam Viewer, which is still used on Intel-based vehicles.
In addition to adjusting playback speed, you can now adjust the video view so that it’s displayed without being obstructed by the buttons at the top (video below). The difference is small, but could be useful if you’re trying to see something slightly out of view or that’s hidden behind the top Dashcam buttons.
While the Cybertruck has also received the updated Dashcam Viewer with this update, it does not have the new B-pillar camera recordings like other HW4 cars.
Sentry Mode is getting one of the best uses of the vehicle’s ambient lighting that we’ve seen so far. The ambient lighting will now slowly pulse red while Sentry Mode is activated to grab someone’s attention, instead of just relying on the vehicle’s display.
While you can disable Sentry Mode sounds, we’d love to see an even more stealthy Sentry Mode that also disables the ambient lighting and screen, allowing the vehicle to record without anyone being aware.
Since the ambient lighting is being used in this case to make people more aware of a feature, Tesla could also use it in other modes, such as Dog Mode.
There are a lot of potential uses for ambient lighting. Tesla can make it glow while the vehicle is charging, with the brightness potentially related to the vehicle's charge level.
When you navigate to a Supercharger, new icons in the charger list will indicate locations that require valet service or pay-to-park access.
Upon arrival at the location, a notification will appear on your screen, displaying important details such as access codes, parking restrictions, level/floor information for parking garages, and restroom availability. This information will also be available on the site card in the navigation.
Equalizer Presets
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Tesla has moved the audio settings from the music player, directly into the vehicle settings — making them much easier to find. In addition to creating a new “Audio” section in settings, you can now create and save equalizer presets.
Each preset can have a name, custom EQ settings, and a setting for immersive audio.
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Onboarding Guide
Not a Tesla App
Tesla has introduced a new Onboarding Guide for new owners. The guide covers driver settings, touchscreen use, steering wheel and seat setup, and how to control key portions of the vehicle, including lights, wipers, and Autopilot features.
The Onboarding Guide is automatically initiated when a new owner accepts delivery of a Tesla, or can be manually initiated at any time by going to Controls > Service > Onboarding Guide.
This appears to only be available for the new Model 3 and new Model Y.
In typical Tesla fashion, this 2025.26 update is rolling out gradually in small waves initially. Three waves have already gone out, so all signs are looking good for it going into a wide release soon.
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