Evidence

In 2019, tesla.com/nl_NL/model3 told every buyer, unconditionally, that their Tesla's hardware would enable full self-driving in the future. No disclaimer about hardware replacement. No asterisks. Just a promise.

The Dutch Tesla configurator in 2019 sold 'Volledig zelfrijdende besturing' (Full Self-Driving Capability) as a paid option, listed specific features, and promised delivery 'later this year'. The only disclaimer mentioned regulation and reliability. Not hardware.

When Tesla acknowledged in 2019 that the existing Full Self-Driving Computer (HW2.5) couldn't deliver full self-driving, they gave FSD buyers a free hardware upgrade. That's their own precedent. The same logic applies to HW3 now.

Tesla's VP of Autopilot publicly admitted on X that Hardware 3 vehicles run a 'smaller model' than vehicles with the newer AI4 hardware. Tesla's top FSD engineer confirmed product differentiation himself.

Tesla's own CEO publicly acknowledged during the Q4 2024 Earnings Call that Hardware 3 computers in vehicles where FSD was purchased must be replaced. The top executive confirmed exactly what this initiative is about.

Nine months after Musk's firm January 2025 commitment, Tesla changed course. On the Q3 2025 Earnings Call in October 2025, Tesla announced that HW3 owners would receive a stripped-down 'v14 Lite' version instead of a full hardware upgrade.

Tesla filed a US patent application describing the mathematical workaround required to run Full Self-Driving on Hardware 3. In that same patent, Tesla acknowledges that this method can render the system 'inoperable' for perception in autonomous driving.

Independent technical reporting from March 2026 documents a measurable performance difference between HW3 and AI4 vehicles on critical disengagement metrics. HW3 performs approximately 3.75 times worse than AI4. That's a fundamental safety difference for the same product name.

On 10 April 2026, the Dutch RDW issued European type approval for Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, with provisional validity in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the first European country to officially permit the system on public roads.

Immediately after the RDW type approval, Tesla updated its Dutch Full Self-Driving product page to announce the new availability. The page claims that 'every Tesla' receives the latest updates and that the system is '7x safer' than a human driver. Not a word about the hardware exclusion of Hardware 3.