Self-driving EV computers like Tesla HW4 could generate climate change emissions to rival all data centers

[Redaktion]

The green EV credentials are under threat from a new MIT study that calculates future greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles with computers dedicated to autonomous driving tasks. Self-driving kits like Tesla's upcoming Hardware 4 upgrade could produce climate change emissions equal to or surpassing those of all current data centers combined if their power draw is not kept in check.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Self-driving-EV-computers-like-Tesla-HW4-could-generate-climate-change-emissions-to-rival-all-data-centers.683367.0.html

[Hunter2020]

LOL, what a joke.  Operating windshield wipers consume more power than powering low-power CPUs!  Might as well make a study how we need more efficient windshield wipers to reduce impact on climate change...

[Orion]

Let me think who shall I trust...  A scientific study that has been peer reviewed by other researchers top on their field

or...

A fart that came out from the wrong side on a comments section?

Difficult choice!

[vertigo]

I think an important consideration is how the increased energy usage compares to energy saved through more efficient driving. A good autonomous driving system, especially if communicating with others around it, should drive at more consistent speeds, instead of e.g. varying up and down a bit as typical drivers do when not using cruise and quickly approaching red lights only to have to stop at them and then re-accelerate vs approaching them slower, not to mention the very likely possibility of reducing waiting at lights in general. Still interesting, as I hadn't even considered the energy usage of the computers involved in this. Never occurred to me it would be high enough to matter much. Though electric cars, which are typically the type to have this technology, are only really effective at reducing emissions if they're charged with electricity from renewables or nuclear, in which case this wouldn't really matter, anyways.

[CmdrEvil]

1.2kw sounds huge. If you have a desktop with the best 7950x and rtx 4090 running at full load you wouldn't be pulling any more than 600-700w
I very much doubt any eV pulls more than 1200w to operate these advanced cruise control systems. Last time I checked tesla was bragging of their cars having ps5 processing power, which wouldn't use more than 200-250w

[vertigo]

1.2kw sounds huge. If you have a desktop with the best 7950x and rtx 4090 running at full load you wouldn't be pulling any more than 600-700w
I very much doubt any eV pulls more than 1200w to operate these advanced cruise control systems. Last time I checked tesla was bragging of their cars having ps5 processing power, which wouldn't use more than 200-250w

It's not really clear, but looking at the source MIT article, I think they're saying that's just what it needs to stay under, and at projected increases in the necessary computing power through 2050, it won't without major efficiency increases. So they're not saying that's where it is now, but that's just the upper limit for acceptable emissions and we're heading toward going far past that.