Back when Tesla first announced its refreshed Model S and Model X in January, the electric vehicle (EV) giant placed a lot of emphasis on the new vehicles’ infotainment system’s 10 teraflops of power.
It was unclear what underlying architecture would power the new platform, though many assumed that AMD would be behind its graphics hardware. During the chip maker’s recent Computex keynote, AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed that the company is providing AMD APUs (Ryzen chips that feature built-in graphics) for Tesla’s new infotainment system.
During the keynote, Su says that the AMD chips are only active when you’re doing something graphically intensive like playing games. In the context of a Tesla, this makes sense since a powerful GPU would likely kill the vehicle’s battery more quickly.
What this doesn’t answer is why you’d want to game in your Tesla? The only situation I can think of is if you were waiting for the vehicle to charge. Otherwise, this seems like little more than a cool party trick to show off to friends. Tesla’s revamped Model S and Model X features two displays: a 17-inch screen in the front and a smaller one in the back for passengers. This means that, at least in theory, whoever is in the backseat should still be able to game while the car is driving.
It’s unclear what games the new infotainment system will support, but early images show user-interface tiles for The Witcher 3, Stardew Valley, Fallout Shelter and more.
In other Tesla-related news, Elon Musk, the company’s SEO, recently tweeted that the Model S Plaid trim option’s delivery date has been pushed back to June 10th.
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