AMD Bringing PS5 Class RDNA 2 GPUs To The Tesla Model S And Model X

At its major Computex announcement, AMD  announced that it has deployed its RDNA2 class of GPUs for Tesla's new updated Model S and Model X cars. Earlier in the year, when Tesla launched these new vehicles, Elon Musk had touted PlayStation 5 calibre of graphics from the in-car infotainment system with it having the ability to play triple-A games like the Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 via a system that dishes out 10 teraflops of compute capability. Originally, it was speculated if Tesla was making its own chipset - but now AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su has revealed that Tesla is using an AMD system. AMD also powers the brains of next-generation gaming consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

"So we actually have an AMD Ryzen APU powering the infotainment system in both cars as well as a discrete RDNA2-based GPU that kicks in when running AAA games, providing up to 10 teraflops of compute power.... we look forward to giving gamers a great platform for AAA gaming," says AMD CEO Lisa Su.

Under Dr Lisa Su's leadership, AMD has become a powerhouse taking on Intel and Nvidia

Tesla notoriously had ditched using Nvidia's graphics systems and self-driving chipset. It instead developed its own FSD chip by hiring chipset veteran Jim Kellar a couple of years ago. After that Musk went on to criticise Nvidia for its anti-competitive practices and ended up in a hostile relationship with the world's most well-capitalised semiconductor company. Nvidia, of course, is no stranger to this, as it ended up in such a situation with regards to GPUs even with Apple, and in both cases, the beneficiary has been AMD. 

The system that Tesla uses theoretically is less powerful than the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Instead, it is believed to be a Navi 23 GPU which could be one of the AMD Radeon 6600M models which AMD also unveiled for the first time at Computex. The Radeon 6600M has been tailored for ultraportable notebooks, though it found a way in a Tesla may be odd, but it totally makes sense that it works on a low thermal threshold. The Radeon 6600M is believed to have 28 compute units, 1792 shader units. 

The 2021 Tesla Model S Plaid will pack about 1100 bhp and a top speed of 322 kmph

For a while, Tesla has been building a team that's working on gaming for its in-car experience - pointing towards where the automaker believes that the future of the market resides especially once autonomous driving becomes common fare. Tesla also is planning to deploy its Tesla vision self-driving update, but the big question is that if the infotainment system is at the front of the car, wouldn't that be a distraction if legally the driver still must have his/her hands on the wheel? 

Regardless, the first Tesla to feature AMD's cutting edge graphics will be the Model S Plaid edition which is delayed by a month.