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Tesla shows the competition technologically the taillights: In the field of electronics, the company should be six years ahead, according to a media report
Photo: Aly Song / REUTERS
Toyota and Volkswagen each sell around ten million cars a year, Tesla managed fewer than 400,000 in 2019.
Nevertheless, the Californian manufacturer apparently has a major technological lead.
This emerges from a report in the Japanese daily "Nikkei Asian Review", which had a Tesla Model 3 dismantled.
One part in particular caught the eye: the integrated, central control unit of the car, the "full self-driving computer".
The component, also known as Hardware 3, is one of the manufacturer's secret weapons.
The module, which came on the market last spring and is found in all new Model 3, S and X, contains two custom-made, 260-square-millimeter chips for artificial intelligence.
Six years ahead of the established manufacturers
According to "Nikkei", Tesla developed the part, which controls the infotainment system as well as the car's driver assistant, including the necessary software. After examining the computer, an engineer from a Japanese car manufacturer told the newspaper in astonishment: "We would not be able to do it . "
The Californian manufacturer, which overtook Volkswagen for the first time in January in terms of market value, also has a lead of six years in electronics, according to the report.
An electronics platform with a powerful, central computer is considered critical for increasingly self-driving vehicles.
According to the "Nikkei Asian Review", industry insiders do not expect this technology in competitor vehicles until 2025.
Many control units for many functions
"Tesla has a technological lead, especially in electronics," says Peter Fintl from the technology and innovation consultancy Altran.
However, it is difficult to quantify this precisely.
Until now, every functional group in the car had its own control unit, explains Fintl.
This allows manufacturers to develop them independently of one another and mix suppliers.
The more complex the models, the more control units are required - in the upper class between 80 and 100.
"They not only need space, but updates can practically only be installed in workshops," says Fintl.
"The future belongs to cars that are conceived in terms of software, such as the models from Tesla."
Most of the parts in the Model 3 do not have any supplier's lettering, but only the Tesla logo, right down to the smallest parts in the control units.
According to the Nikkei report, this suggests that control over the development of almost all key technologies in the car rests with Tesla itself - while traditional manufacturers have to take their grown supply chains into account.
Audi and VW also rely on central computers
The compact electronics solution could turn established supply chains in the auto industry off their hinges and rearrange the relationship between manufacturers and suppliers.
"The distribution battle in the industry is in full swing," says technology consultant Peter Fintl.
Tesla not only relied on mobile updates at an early stage, but also showed that it is possible and useful to develop the components that make automated driving possible yourself, says the expert.
"But Audi and VW will also go this way in the future, so Volkswagen is relying on a central computer for its new electric platform."
Tesla doesn't have to wait for others
But here, too, there remains a crucial difference between the classic manufacturers and the US upstart: The traditional manufacturers are currently relying on suppliers for their central computers, according to Fintl.
"Tesla has an advantage here because they not only master the design of the hardware, but also develop the central elements such as processors and chips for machine learning themselves."
This difference is due to a different way of thinking, which has also helped Tesla to achieve a technological lead.
"Manufacturers think in ecosystems with suppliers and standards so that all components work together smoothly," says technology consultant Fintl.
Setting new standards, however, takes years.
For Tesla, however, these are irrelevant, since the developers rely on their own systems that do not have to be compatible with others.
"Tesla doesn't have to wait for anyone to develop," says Fintl.
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