Tesla Accused of Cutting Corner That Makes Level 3 Self-Driving Impossible

Another bump in the road for Elon’s full self-driving promise.

Supply Chain Headache

Well, this is a bad look. 

A CNBC report found that Tesla cut corners to deal with the rampant supply chain issues caused by the pandemic — putting yet another hurdle in the way to level three full-self driving cars. 

The Elon Musk-led electric car manufacturer removed one of two electronic control units in its Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y cars, two anonymous Tesla employees told the broadcaster. The move came as the company was under pressure to deliver fourth quarter sales goals amidst a global semiconductor shortage. 

Promises Broken

The component isn’t necessary for current “level two” drivers assistance systems such as Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, which still require the driver to remain alert with their hands on the wheel, and was described as redundant, as there was a backup chip system that performed those tasks. So there’s no real danger from not including it in the company’s cars with their current software capabilities.

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However, it is needed for the company to reach its goal of “level three” autonomy, which would provide hands-free driving assistance. Since the component provides the cars with a dual-control steering system, drivers will need to take their vehicles in to get it retrofitted with a new chip if they want a level three self-driving system. 

That all directly contradicts Musk himself, who said during a recent earnings call that the cars could achieve hands-off autonomy with a software update. 

“My personal guess is that we’ll achieve Full Self-Driving this year at a safety level significantly greater than a person, so the cars in the fleet essentially become self-driving via software update,” Musk said in a comment heard by CNBC.

All in all, it’s just another case of Elon overpromising and underdelivering. We’ll see if level three does finally come out this year, like he says — or if it’ll be just another empty promise.

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READ MORE: Tesla cut a steering component from some cars to deal with chip shortage, sources say [CNBC]

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