During the Q3 2026 earnings call, Tesla management omitted a top-ranked shareholder question regarding the Hardware 3 (HW3) computer upgrade path. The inquiry, which held the fifth position with 557 votes and 652,900 shares on the Say platform, asked for a clear plan for owners who purchased unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities.
Head of investor relations Travis Axelrod addressed nine questions during the call, covering topics such as Cybercab scaling, robotaxi economics, and Optimus performance. However, the company skipped the HW3 query, despite answering questions that ranked lower in shareholder voting. No analysts raised the topic during the session.
Tesla previously acknowledged that HW3 hardware lacks the memory bandwidth required for unsupervised FSD. While the company announced that unsupervised FSD features are expected to reach customer vehicles around Q2 2027 via FSD v15, this timeline specifically pertains to newer hardware configurations rather than the millions of existing HW3 units.
Tesla faces multiple class-action lawsuits in the US, China, Australia, and the Netherlands regarding the FSD feature. The Dutch collective claim currently includes nearly 7,000 participants. The company has previously discussed potential solutions, including microfactories for hardware swaps or discounted trade-ins, but has yet to provide a definitive plan for owners.
