Tesla Killed the Model S and X, but Older Ones Are Getting a Major Update

Phased Out Troubles

One thing that has changed about the automotive industry is how technology-driven and laden cars are nowadays. More technology equates to a lot more software, and as we all know, software is a highly dynamic aspect of technology, always changing and evolving. The problem with updated software is that it’s built to work with the latest hardware, and adding backward compatibility to run on older hardware takes time and, in some cases, isn’t possible at all.

This seems to have been the issue plaguing some owners of the Tesla Model S and Model X, the previous flagships of the EV automaker.

Model S and X FSD Upgrade

One of Tesla’s most sought-after features is the Full Self-Driving safety suite and software. FSD is also the fastest-evolving feature, given Tesla’s priority on autonomous driving technology; however, older models have lagged in getting the latest software updates, which is apparently being addressed soon.

Teslarati reports that Full Self-Driving v14 Lite will finally make its way to the Hardware 3-equipped Model S and X. During the Cybercab launch, AI chief Ashok Elluswamy told Ryan McCaffrey that the rollout of the S and X FSD update was supposed to have happened already. In any case, Elluswamy says he expects a full rollout very soon. The holdout was limited to the pre-facelift Model S and X, not the recent runout models that had Hardware 4 installed, which could immediately absorb the new software.

Distilled Version

Another key point is that Full Self-Driving v14 Lite is a condensed version Tesla released for older Hardware 3 vehicles because they can’t run the full v14 AI model. Tesla calls it a distillation process, and v14 Lite is only capable of Level 2 supervised driving. Tesla also says Hardware 3 vehicles can’t run unsupervised Full Self-Driving because of bandwidth and memory limitations.

The release of v14 Lite has already affected Hardware 3 cars in the U.S. and Canada, with international adoption taking more time due to ongoing regulation and regional approvals. Some owners who’ve updated to v14 Lite are already reporting major improvements compared to the older version.