According to hacker @greentheonly, the latest Tesla 2020.44 software update is hinting at upcoming 5G cellular network support. Currently, Tesla connectivity only supports LTE cellular networks.
“hm, 2020.44 also ships with a new firmware file for CYW89359 which happens to be Cypress automotive 802.11ac wifi/BT solution (currently shipping with Broadcom BCM4349). Some additional breadcrumbs pointing at upcoming 5g modem support => connectivity suite update soon?”, said @greentheonly on Monday afternoon.
hm, 2020.44 also ships with a new firmware file for CYW89359 which happens to be Cypress automotive 802.11ac wifi/BT solution (currently shipping with Broadcom BCM4349). Some additional breadcrumbs pointing at upcoming 5g modem support => connectivity suite update soon?
— green (@greentheonly) November 3, 2020
If a Tesla were to support 5G cellular networks, customers would expect to see faster download speeds and shorter latency, especially when connected to mmWave 5G. In the United States, 5G cell networks are only starting to proliferate. In Canada, incumbent telecoms have initial 5G networks so far but there are no mmWave bands yet.
The hacker added, “And then there’s additional bandwidth usage monitoring added and a curious mothership option to ask cars to “collect hotspot info” – hotspot might really appear in foreseeable future?”
According to green, the hacker says “I’ve not seen any 20201 cars so cannot tell for sure, but current firmware is not fully enabled for 5g yet, so that does not bode well for already produced cars,” when asked if this would be for the 2021 Model 3.
It’s only natural Tesla would consider supporting 5G cellular networks, just like how Apple’s iPhone 12 lineup this year did for the first time. Tesla Premium Connectivity subscriptions currently provide owners with access to LTE data connections. If 5G is next, the latter would consume more bandwidth faster, so Tesla may have to increase prices to make up for what its telecom partners may charge for 5G access.
Naturally though, you would expect Tesla to vertically integrate internet connections by leveraging SpaceX’s Starlink, currently in public beta and seeing impressive results in early testing.
