Thursday, February 24th 2022

Elon Musk Teases Steam Game Support for Tesla Infotainment System

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently stated that Tesla is currently working on adding support for Steam games to the Linux-powered infotainment system found in Tesla cars. The latest hardware version of the Tesla infotainment system features a quad-core AMD Zen+ CPU paired with an Radeon Navi 23 GPU similar to that of the Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Steam Deck. The GPU includes 28 Compute Units running at 2.8 GHz to drive the 17-inch 2200x1300 center screen for approximately 10 TFLOPS of performance. Tesla has previously worked to bring individual games to the infotainment system such as Beach Buggy Racing 2, The Battle of Polytopia, Cuphead, Stardew Valley, and Fallout Shelter in addition to the Atari 2600 emulator. The timeline for any such implementation is likely to be in the medium to long term.
Elon MuskWe're working through the general case of making Steam games work on a Tesla vs specific titles. Former is obviously where we should be long-term.
Source: @elonmusk
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44 Comments on Elon Musk Teases Steam Game Support for Tesla Infotainment System

#1
Cutechri
This clown never ceases to amaze me
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#2
AnarchoPrimitiv
Wish we could get mini-pc's with that APU, can't wait for mini PCs to be released with the Zen3+/RDNA2 mobile APUs, I'd really like to get one for my niece to be a minecraft and dolphin emulator for her (she's 8 and loves Resident Evil 4)
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#3
DeathtoGnomes
I read about this a while ago, there was some feedback about whether its a good idea or not. Some think its a bad idea when coupled with auto-drive...

bumper cars anyone? :D
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#4
Valantar
DeathtoGnomesI read about this a while ago, there was some feedback about whether its a good idea or not. Some think its a bad idea when coupled with auto-drive...

bumper cars anyone? :D
It's a friggin' terrible idea, as is an infotainment system with a massive screen that's visible to the driver in the first place. (And, IMO, as are touchscreen controls in a car, as they take away your ability to do things without looking. But that's another thing entirely.) Their self-driving tech is still nowhere near ready to replace a human driver outside of very straightforward driving conditions, so until that changes radically (which likely won't happen for a decade IMO) this is just a terrible idea. Good for people in the back seat, though.
AnarchoPrimitivWish we could get mini-pc's with that APU, can't wait for mini PCs to be released with the Zen3+/RDNA2 mobile APUs, I'd really like to get one for my niece to be a minecraft and dolphin emulator for her (she's 8 and loves Resident Evil 4)
With a quad core Zen+ CPU that APU would be pretty underwhelming - that's Ryzen 3 2300X/Ryzen 5 2500X levels of performance, depending on whether it has SMT enabled or not. Passable performance? Sure. But nothing impressive, and likely to hold the GPU back in most games. Given how latency sensitive and ST performance bound emultation is, that's likely a particularly poor use case for this APU.
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#5
Chomiq
First he needs to make sure that brakes are operating correctly, then he needs to make sure that "autopilot" will not let you run the games when vehicle is moving. Otherwise it's asking for a tragedy.
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#6
trsttte
AnarchoPrimitivWish we could get mini-pc's with that APU, can't wait for mini PCs to be released with the Zen3+/RDNA2 mobile APUs, I'd really like to get one for my niece to be a minecraft and dolphin emulator for her (she's 8 and loves Resident Evil 4)
The gaming part that will run steam is not an APU, it's a discrete Navi 23 gpu (this article is wrong)

www.techpowerup.com/277829/elon-musk-teases-updated-tesla-model-s-design-that-can-play-cyberpunk-and-witcher-3?cp=2
videocardz.com/newz/tesla-car-computer-features-zen-ryzen-embedded-apu-and-discrete-navi-23-gpu
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#7
AusWolf
A feature no one has ever asked for. If Tesla focused on designing cars instead of infotainment systems on four wheels, they would rule the industry.
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#8
noel_fs
and i think they are not even mentioning the gpu used for the AI/autopilot stuff, those cars probably can play games better than most computers
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#9
deu
CutechriThis clown never ceases to amaze me
You can call him clown all you want; whether or not you like it, it is a brilliant marketing move from a company with a "0 dollar" budget in marketing. They/he know his customers. The people buying tesla's is often techsavy men in 30->. Eventhough i know it is 100% useless to a car, this set Tesla apart from the competition (something that have worked soo far) Granted this will stop having impact as electric cars become a more "everyday customer" product, but until then: Elon is right and you are either mad or wrong.
AusWolfA feature no one has ever asked for. If Tesla focused on designing cars instead of infotainment systems on four wheels, they would rule the industry.
Just because you have people in one area working on infotainment and people in the other area working on building better cars, those two ressources are in different fields. (If not i could be making cars instead of software!) And just because a developer have gotten a task for 10x7 hours to figure out how this could work; does mean that the engine designteam stop working :)
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#10
TheinsanegamerN
The only use I can see for this is you need something to do while spending 2 hours at the back of a wal mart parking lot waiting for your car to charge.

Welcome to the future.
deuYou can call him clown all you want; whether or not you like it, it is a brilliant marketing move from a company with a "0 dollar" budget in marketing. They/he know his customers. The people buying tesla's is often techsavy men in 30->. Eventhough i know it is 100% useless to a car, this set Tesla apart from the competition (something that have worked soo far) Granted this will stop having impact as electric cars become a more "everyday customer" product, but until then: Elon is right and you are either mad or wrong.
Techsavvy men also buy millions of dollars in NFTs thinking they are oil barrons.
deuJust because you have people in one area working on infotainment and people in the other area working on building better cars, those two ressources are in different fields. (If not i could be making cars instead of software!) And just because a developer have gotten a task for 10x7 hours to figure out how this could work; does mean that the engine designteam stop working :)
resources are not unlimited, budgets are not unlimited. Money spent on coming up with infotainment features is money not being spent on improving batteries, fixing engineering or building mistakes, or developing those models that are years late to the market.
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#11
Cutechri
deuYou can call him clown all you want
Thanks, I sure will. I'll stop doing it when he stops being the human equivalent of a dried up turd at the side of the road.
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#12
TheoneandonlyMrK
CutechriThanks, I sure will. I'll stop doing it when he stops being the human equivalent of a dried up turd at the side of the road.
Jeff says hi, bezos that Is :p

I can see this taking off ,they have a captive audience for like 30 minutes while charging.

Not for me though I am wayyyy to skint for a Tesla plus an r7 etrons just better.
Posted on Reply
#13
Legacy-ZA
ChomiqFirst he needs to make sure that brakes are operating correctly, then he needs to make sure that "autopilot" will not let you run the games when vehicle is moving. Otherwise it's asking for a tragedy.
:roll:

I can imagine it now; the whole system crashes and needs to be restarted in transit because gaming caused a BSOD / overheat on the system or something. :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#14
TheinsanegamerN
Legacy-ZA:roll:

I can imagine it now; the whole system crashes and needs to be restarted in transit because gaming caused a BSOD / overheat on the system or something. :laugh:
I imagine theyll wire it to the CANBUS, and when you start up GTA V youll turn the car only for your tesla to slam into a wall instead.....lord help you if you boot up project wingman....
Posted on Reply
#15
trsttte
AusWolfA feature no one has ever asked for. If Tesla focused on designing cars instead of infotainment systems on four wheels, they would rule the industry.
Actually one of the reasons they are ruling the industry is having invested in usable infotainment systems as opposed to bottom of the barrel hw with 0 support we've seen so far. It's an odd move to put a full on gaming system on a car, but it's also something new on a premium car that will be exciting for new generations and for a future where we'll have to wait a bit more to refuel cars.

It makes as much sense as DVD players and similar accessories in minivans for example.
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#16
Lionheart
CutechriThanks, I sure will. I'll stop doing it when he stops being the human equivalent of a dried up turd at the side of the road.
Your comments aren't making any sense? I don't follow Elon Musk so I don't know him at all, why the negative perception?
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#17
Cutechri
TheoneandonlyMrKJeff says hi, bezos that Is :p
I never said I liked that wrinkled bag or any billionaire for that matter.
LionheartYour comments aren't making any sense? I don't follow Elon Musk so I don't know him at all, why the negative perception?
There's a well documented history of what he did online, including profiting off the apartheid, thwarting unions, and using child labor. I don't want to get into it since it's not really a place for this forum. If you want to know why I despise him, there's plenty of evidence online of his past actions.
Posted on Reply
#18
DeathtoGnomes
ChomiqFirst he needs to make sure that brakes are operating correctly, then he needs to make sure that "autopilot" will not let you run the games when vehicle is moving. Otherwise it's asking for a tragedy.
Auto-pilot is using Need for Speed to keep between the lines, and thats the real tragedy.
Posted on Reply
#20
Valantar
trsttteActually one of the reasons they are ruling the industry is having invested in usable infotainment systems as opposed to bottom of the barrel hw with 0 support we've seen so far. It's an odd move to put a full on gaming system on a car, but it's also something new on a premium car that will be exciting for new generations and for a future where we'll have to wait a bit more to refuel cars.

It makes as much sense as DVD players and similar accessories in minivans for example.
More accurately: They're not tied into massive supplier contracts with existing car component manufacturers like Bosch, and instead spent a lot of money designing their own hardware built (most importantly: chips) in a way that both drastically increases the capabilities of their management systems while also simplifying their construction and making them a lot cheaper. This aligns with simple logic: someone like Bosch designs their systems to be modular and configurable, as different brands and models will want/need different levels of tech, and selling bespoke configurations for each makes economical sense - but it also makes for low levels of integration, high development costs and sales prices, and little flexibility in the design once implemented. If your systems need to fit in everything from a tiny budget hatchback to a giant luxury SUV to a sports car, you're unlikely to build a one-size-fits-all chip where everything is software defined - for it to meet the needs of the high end it would inherently be wasteful and too expensive for the low end.

On the other hand, traditional carmakers have neither the finances nor the expertise to design their own hardware and control systems (even if we were to disregard their contractual obligations), leaving them at the mercy of their suppliers - which are themselves massive corporations tied into immensely complex systems of interdependency leading to inherently conservative approaches to hardware design.

Tesla just came in at the right time and right geographic location with the right mountain of cash to not need to engage with this, which has given them a significant competitive advantage.
Posted on Reply
#21
trsttte
ValantarMore accurately: They're not tied into massive supplier contracts with existing car component manufacturers like Bosch, and instead spent a lot of money designing their own hardware built (most importantly: chips) in a way that both drastically increases the capabilities of their management systems while also simplifying their construction and making them a lot cheaper. This aligns with simple logic: someone like Bosch designs their systems to be modular and configurable, as different brands and models will want/need different levels of tech, and selling bespoke configurations for each makes economical sense - but it also makes for low levels of integration, high development costs and sales prices, and little flexibility in the design once implemented. If your systems need to fit in everything from a tiny budget hatchback to a giant luxury SUV to a sports car, you're unlikely to build a one-size-fits-all chip where everything is software defined - for it to meet the needs of the high end it would inherently be wasteful and too expensive for the low end.

On the other hand, traditional carmakers have neither the finances nor the expertise to design their own hardware and control systems (even if we were to disregard their contractual obligations), leaving them at the mercy of their suppliers - which are themselves massive corporations tied into immensely complex systems of interdependency leading to inherently conservative approaches to hardware design.

Tesla just came in at the right time and right geographic location with the right mountain of cash to not need to engage with this, which has given them a significant competitive advantage.
No need to tell me, I worked on that until fairly recently. Some of the traditional carmakers are starting to open their eyes and bringing more stuff in house (mainly the software side, but that's already significant), but yeah, Tesla was able to turn not having any connections in the industry into an advantage and 10 years on it still shows.

If anyone is interested check out Sandy Munro youtube channel where he does analysis and reverse engineering of Tesla and many other vehicles, the comparisons between like Model Y Mach 3 id4are pretty astonishing and revealing.
Posted on Reply
#22
Octavean
So you can play “Dirt” when your Tesla is in auto pilot mode. Meta AF. Probably make you lose your lunch though,…
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#23
lemkeant
Wow is there some salt in these comments. Yikes. Almost as bad a a crytpo article on here.

Anyway, as someone who owns a Tesla (a fully functioning one, that hasnt needed panels aligned and stuff), this is a cool idea. The options you could have while your vehicle is charging, or maybe your hanging out in your car having lunch, etc, is really cool. I look forward to this, if it even happens.
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#24
Mistral
The more important question is, will I be able to drive my Tesla from my Steam Deck?
Posted on Reply
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