Tesla Likely Switching In-Car Graphics to Unreal Engine

Tesla’s in-car graphics may move from Godot to Unreal

A recent find in Tesla's 2025.20 firmware for AMD-equipped Model S and Model X vehicles suggests the automaker could replace its current Godot-based visualizations with Epic Games' Unreal Engine. The discovery, reported by a Tesla hacker known as greentheonly and picked up by Not a Tesla App, hints at a significant shift in how Tesla renders Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) visuals on the car's displays.

Unreal Engine is best known as a game development tool, but Epic has aggressively positioned it for automotive interiors and instrument clusters. Several automakers already use Unreal for their UIs and simulations. If Tesla confirms the switch, it would be joining that list and aligning its visualization stack with broader industry trends.

• Rivian
• Ford
• GMC
• Volvo
• Lotus

Why does this matter? In-vehicle graphics do more than look pretty. They convey the vehicle's understanding of the world and the status of driver-assist features. Better rendering fidelity, richer 3D maps, and more expressive animations can improve driver trust and clarity around autonomy handoffs. Unreal's toolset also gives teams advanced lighting, shader, and physics capabilities that are familiar to game studios but increasingly valuable for complex vehicle UIs.

There are engineering and business trade-offs. Unreal comes with licensing terms, a different development pipeline, and integration considerations for safety-critical software. Teams must benchmark performance on vehicle GPUs — in Tesla's case, AMD silicon — ensure deterministic behavior, and validate that UI changes don't introduce latency that could affect operator response times.

From a development perspective, moving from Godot to Unreal could mean retooling pipelines, retraining designers, and rewriting visualization modules. But it can also unlock richer simulation capabilities useful for training perception stacks and for realistic driver-in-the-loop testing. Remember: Epic already collaborates with automakers for digital twins and simulation — not just seat time in a game engine.

Security and update paths are another consideration. Modern vehicles receive OTA updates for both safety-critical and non-critical components. Introducing a third-party engine requires secure build pipelines, clear version control, and end-to-end testing to ensure updates don't regress behavior or expose new attack surfaces.

The move would also be cultural: Unreal's ecosystem brings a larger pool of graphics and tools expertise, including artists, technical directors, and simulation engineers. That can accelerate feature development but may shift hiring and vendor strategies for in-house teams.

Tesla and Epic Games did not immediately comment. The two companies already intersect in other ways — Tesla's Cybertruck was added to Fortnite last year — so a deeper partnership around in-car tech wouldn't be a surprise. Still, until Tesla confirms, this remains an informed firmware-based signal rather than an official roadmap announcement.

For automakers, suppliers, and fleet operators, this kind of engine choice matters practically. It affects time-to-market for new UI features, simulation fidelity for perception and ADAS testing, and the long-term maintainability of the software stack. Teams should treat such a migration as a multidisciplinary project spanning UX, software engineering, validation, and legal/licensing.

QuarkyByte's approach would be to benchmark candidate engines against real vehicle workloads, quantify latency and rendering overhead on target GPUs, model licensing and supply-chain impacts, and run UX validation to ensure visuals improve clarity without distracting drivers. If Tesla does confirm an Unreal move, that roadmap becomes a practical template for other manufacturers weighing the same trade-offs.

Bottom line: firmware clues point to a possible shift in Tesla's visualization engine that could change how the company develops and deploys in-car UIs. The change promises richer visuals and simulation capabilities, but it also brings integration, licensing, and validation work that teams must manage carefully.