[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would open-source the Model S and Model X, but concerns have been raised that the actual scope of disclosure could be limited, given the case of the original Roadster. Some in the industry also say that unless core design materials and source code are released, it would fall short of what the term open source implies.
On July 24 (local time), EV outlet Electrek reported that Musk recently mentioned plans to open-source the Model S and Model X and pointed to the 2023 disclosure of the original Roadster as a precedent.
A closer look at what was released then showed it was far from a “complete open source” release. In November 2023, Musk said he had published all of the original Roadster’s design and engineering materials, introducing it by saying, “What we have, you now have.” But the material actually released amounted to 8 files in a GitHub repository and 5 documents accessible only after logging in.
GitHub included 5 CAN database (DB) files for Roadster 1.5 and 2.0, 1 diagnostics software ISO file and 2 PDF guides. The CAN DB files were registered in December 2022, and the ISO file and PDF documents were added in November 2023. There were no new updates for about 2 years and 6 months after that.
A bigger issue was the absence of core technical materials. The released material did not include CAD design files, mechanical drawings, bills of materials (BOM), motor designs, battery pack designs, power electronics schematics or firmware source code. The diagnostics software also provided only executable files, with no source code released.
Limits also surfaced in actual restoration work. Open-source hardware specialist Antmicro said it secured manufacturing Gerber files and parts placement data while running a Roadster electronics simulation project, but had to recreate a significant portion of the circuit board design because it lacked the original PCB design files.
Licensing issues have also stirred controversy. Tesla stated on its GitHub repository that the material was distributed under “Roadster open research and development document terms,” but the content was closer to a disclaimer. Tesla said the material was not official service and maintenance documentation and did not guarantee accuracy or completeness. It also specified that parts made based on the material would not be recognised as genuine Tesla parts.
Unlike typical open-source licences, it did not include clauses permitting copying, modification or redistribution, or granting patent rights. Electrek said the current approach was closer to simply publishing documents and was far from commonly accepted definitions of open source.
Industry attention is focused on whether the same approach will be repeated for the Model S and Model X. Tesla decided in January this year to discontinue the two models and ended production in April. In the case of the Roadster, only limited material was released after a considerable time had passed following discontinuation.
If the same precedent applies, there are expectations that only diagnostics software, some CAN databases and manufacturing output files would be released for the Model S and Model X, while core technical materials such as autonomous driving systems, drive units and battery pack designs could be excluded.
Software disclosure is another variable. The Model S and Model X run on Linux, and Tesla has released some Linux kernel and Buildroot source code since 2018.
But the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has previously said the scope of those releases did not fully meet open-source licence obligations. The industry is watching whether the Model S and X release could help resolve the related controversy.
Experts say the disclosure scope would need to expand significantly beyond before for the announcement to have industrial significance. They say it could be seen as a technology release at the level of a production vehicle platform if it includes CAD design files, firmware source code and a formal open-source licence, but that it would be hard to see it as more than symbolic if it stays at the Roadster level.
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