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Tesla Teardown Reveals Driver-facing Electronics Built By iPhone 6 Suppliers

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-got-your-smartphone-in-my-ev dept.

Lucas123 writes: The Tesla Model S gets attention because it's an EV that can go from from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 4.2 seconds and can travel 265 miles on a single charge. But, a teardown of the vehicle by IHS Technology has also revealed that Elon Musk avoided third-party design and build routes used traditionally by auto makers and spared no expense on the instrument cluster and infotainment (head unit) system, which is powered by two 1.4Ghz, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra processors. IHS called the Tesla's head unit the most sophisticated it's ever seen, with 1,000 more components than any it has previously analyzed. A bill of materials for the virtual instrument cluster and the premium media control unit is also roughly twice the cost of the highest-end infotainment unit examined by IHS.

14 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. two or three Tegras? by rwa2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    "powered by two 3, 1.4Ghz, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra processors"

    Couldn't find those details in TFA, but from (the much more readable) article at: http://recode.net/2014/10/14/w...

    seems to imply that should read:

    "powered by two 1.4Ghz, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra processors"

  2. Value by istartedi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So it's expensive, but at least you get what you pay for.

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    1. Re:Value by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's what I was thinking. Sure beats some manufacturers, whose idea of a "premium" vehicle is a base model with nicer trim and a few extra parts.

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    2. Re:Value by MMC+Monster · · Score: 5, Informative

      No. The question was 'what is Tesla bringing to the table that you think makes it more than "nicer trim and a few extra parts"?'.

      And, frankly, if you need to ask what Tesla brings to the table, you haven't been reading much /. lately. A week doesn't go by without 5 Tesla articles.

      What Tesla brings to the table are:
      A complete electric drive train
      Performance to rival a sports car/supercar (depending which options you get)
      Free charging at their superchargers for the life of the vehicle
      Battery sizes that are considered best in class, if not best in any class
      A modern UI on the dashboard with free updates both to the UI as well as the mapping system (so far)
      A good warranty (8 year, unlimited mile?)
      Handling that's adjustable, from as smooth as a Lexus to as stiff as a sports car
      [I'm sure there's more that I can't think of currently]

      As for what makes it a luxury car, I'm not really sure. Probably it's price.
      The leather quality isn't as good as other luxury cars I've been in
      Ditto the stitching

      Other than that, I can't think of anything that's considered standard in a luxury car that the Tesla doesn't have.

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  3. Um, how is this news? by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Two NVIDIA Tegra processor modules are at the heart of the electronic components in the Model S, which "command a sizable price tag," according to Rassweiler. Here is a look at how they work."

    Um no... Nearly all of Tegra3's design wins (including 2012 Nexus 7) were due to it being cheap...

    Also, how is this news? It's been known for ages that the Tesla HU used Tegra3. http://www.theinquirer.net/inq... (March 2013) - and I've seen documentation dating back as far as 2012 that Tesla was using the T3.

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    1. Re:Um, how is this news? by zlives · · Score: 3, Insightful

      because there hasn't been a Tesla Advertisement (news) within the last 24 hours.
      also bitcoin

  4. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ..with 1,000 more components than any it has previously analyzed.

    Is that good? That's 1000 more things that could fail.

  5. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, wait, people aren't supposed to keep cars that long any more.

    Cars don't last like they used to. I have seen several 100 year old Ford Model-Ts. I have never seen a 100 year old Tesla.

  6. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can see a 100 year old Tesla if you're prepared to do some grave digging.

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  7. Re:What does this have to do with Apple/iPhone??? by itzly · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean: But the bigger question is, will a Tesla bend?

  8. Luxury auto makers suck in electronics. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The auto makers are mostly work with very long life cycles. Vehicles typically get used for 10 to 15 years, especially for well built luxury vehicles. Model life cycles are long too. They are not used to the fast changing world of electronics and entertainment systems. My friend driving Mercedes hates its navigation system. He often uses google maps on his iphone. My BMW balks at playing old mp3 file created by ripping CDs in WinAmp back in 2000. Every other music player and computer will play those files, BMW alone will keep crashing its music file system and resetting itself. BMW's support of bluetooth is abysmal. My 2006 Prius links without any issue any cell phone via blue tooth. Have you seen how small BMW's approved list of cell phones is? The damned thing would not even support Nexus4 or Nexus5. And if I pair it with an "unapproved" model, somehow it forgets the supported models too. Theoretically it can maintain connections to four phones simultaneously and auto switch on incoming calls. But in practice it is extremely poorly done.

    Why wouldn't they just provide a simple docking station, allow the docked device access to the car speakers and stay away from building their own navigation and music players? They still think they can hold their customers up for ransom by demanding 1800$ for an integrated navigation system or 1200$ for the music player. No, just put in good speakers and allow us to bring our own devices into the car.

    The lack of imagination of the auto makers is astounding. WiFi is what 15 years old? iPod is 10 years old? Why didn't they build a car with WiFi that will connect to your home, down load daily news, weather, traffic reports into the hard disk 10 years ago? After missing the boat then, now they are coming up with walled gardens of WiFi, memory storage in the car etc.

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  9. Nothing says luxury... by Overzeetop · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nothing says luxury like simulated wood grain accents.

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  10. It had better be reliable! by olddoc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A 100 year old steam car can be kept running. A 70 year old Ford can be a daily driver. What will happen to an electric Tesla when the first capacitor on the control panel CPU craps out in 10 years? Will spare motherboards be available? Will you be able to drive the car when the computer controlling the battery cooler dies? Or will it become a brick? That central panel isn't the radio, it is indispensable to the operation of the vehicle! BTW I've driven a Tesla S Supersport and it is a lot of fun to drive and a worked very well.

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  11. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by michelcolman · · Score: 3, Informative

    1. It doesn't use LIDAR which is way too expensive. Just cameras, ultrasonic sensors and forward radar. The self driving capabilities are modest for now: lane keeping, changing lanes on command, distance keeping, etc. Many of those capabilities already exist in other cars, it's just an evolution of existing technology. It now actually allows you to take your hands off the wheel. Not as good as Google's cars, but those are many years away from the market while Tesla's simpler solution should be ready in a few months.

    2. I meant "All cars being delivered today", not those that have been delivered before. I agree I should have phrased it better. The sensors started appearing on new cars a few weeks ago. All of those are capable of autopilot.