During the presentation of Tesla’s quarterly results for the third quarter of 2025, Elon Musk presented an unusual idea that goes beyond the usual understanding of electromobility. He suggested that in future, parked Tesla vehicles could pool their unused computing power to act as a gigantic, distributed computer network for artificial intelligence. According to his estimates, it would be conceivable for up to 100 million vehicles to each contribute around one kilowatt of inference power. Taken together, this would result in a huge total output of around 100 gigawatts.

Musk justified his reasoning with the fact that every modern Tesla vehicle already has powerful AI hardware. Systems such as the AI4 computer, also known as Hardware 4, are capable of performing complex calculations for autonomous driving. According to Musk, the next generation, AI5, will be up to forty times more powerful. If this hardware remains unused, for example while the vehicle is parking or charging, it could theoretically be available for other computing tasks.

This idea is strongly reminiscent of classic concepts such as SETI@home or Folding@home, in which unused computing capacities of private computers are pooled for scientific purposes. In Musk’s vision, this could result in a kind of global, decentralized data center formed by the Tesla fleet. Each car would be a node in a global network that could provide enormous computing power in total.

Musk said that this “distributed inference fleet” represents a previously untapped resource. The vehicles could automatically take over tasks when required while they are at rest. This would make Tesla not only a car manufacturer, but also a player in the field of decentralized cloud infrastructures.

The theoretical possibilities are fascinating, but the implementation raises many questions. One of the biggest challenges lies in the stability and speed of the data connections. Cars are distributed in cities, underground car parks or rural areas, where network coverage and bandwidth vary greatly. Additional heat generation, energy consumption and the load on the hardware also need to be taken into account. There are also legal and safety aspects, especially if the vehicles are connected to central AI networks.

Another point concerns user acceptance. Many car owners are likely to react skeptically if their vehicles suddenly become part of a global computing network. There would therefore have to be clear incentives, such as financial compensation or cheaper services. Without appropriate transparency and control, most drivers would probably reject such use.

Musk’s thought experiment remains interesting, however, because it shows how much he sees the car as a technological platform. For him, the vehicle is not just a means of transportation, but a networked, adaptive device that could play a role in the global AI ecosystem in the future. If this vision were actually realized, it would be a milestone in the fusion of mobility and computing technology.

Conclusion

The idea of millions of Tesla vehicles serving as a distributed supercomputer network illustrates Elon Musk’s penchant for radical ideas. Technically, much of this still seems a long way off, but the direction shows where Tesla is heading in the long term: cars as part of a global, intelligent system that connects energy, data and computing power. If this idea can be realized one day, it could fundamentally change not only the automotive industry, but also the market for data centers.

Source: tomshardware.com