Rumours about the end of Tesla HW3, or Hardware 3, had been widely discussed and exaggerated. As FSD v12.6.1 began rolling out to HW3-equipped Model Y cars in this February 2025 report, Tesla’s AI team was demonstrating continued work on Full Self-Driving for those vehicles. The update represented a clear improvement over v12.5, with further developments anticipated.

While Model 3 owners were still waiting for v12.6.1, Tesla was already looking ahead to additional features for HW3 vehicles.

Automatic reversing announced

In a recent X post, Elon Musk said HW3 vehicles would gain automatic reversing. He jokingly acknowledged the challenge for Tesla’s AI, explaining that the path planner already “thought” it could reverse but did not yet have that functionality outside Autopark. This was a statement about a planned capability, not confirmation that it was already available.

With FSD v13 on HW4 vehicles, features such as automatic reversing, pulling out of parking spaces and starting FSD from a stationary position had made the experience more polished. There was speculation that HW3 vehicles might receive similar functions alongside reversing. These remained driver assistance features requiring supervision.

The future of Tesla HW3

Elon Musk and Tesla VP of AI Ashok Elluswamy continued to emphasise work on improving FSD for HW3 vehicles. That commitment, alongside the possibility of a hardware retrofit if Tesla could not achieve unsupervised FSD, supported the view that HW3 was not simply obsolete. The retrofit remained a conditional prospect rather than an available upgrade in this report.

The question at the time was whether reversing would arrive with FSD v13 or whether a v12.7 update would bridge the gap.

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Giorgio Rebecchi

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Giorgio Rebecchi
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