Tesla is looking to replace the widely used Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) with its own offering.
The company says the Tesla Transport Protocol over Ethernet (TTPoE) is designed to support high-speed, low-latency communications, especially in environments where reliable data transfer is essential.
TTPoE, an integral part of Tesla’s DOJO supercomputer, is optimized for the specific demands of Tesla’s systems, but Elon Musk’s company is touting it as a potential new standard for broader use beyond its own operations.
UltraEthernet Consortium
TTPoE runs entirely in hardware and facilitates efficient data transmission over Ethernet networks without the need for special switches; instead, it uses standard Layer 2 transport. Unlike lossless RDMA networks, TTPoE anticipates packet loss and includes mechanisms for retrying transmissions, which distinguishes it from traditional protocols such as TCP or UDP.
TTPoE offers enhanced security features, such as encryption and authentication, to protect data integrity. This makes it especially useful in industrial and automotive applications where managing large data sets securely and efficiently is essential.
The protocol also supports scalability, allowing it to meet the growing data demands of modern electric vehicles, including those required for autonomous driving and over-the-air updates.
The latest information on TTPoE comes from ServingTheHomewhich reported on Tesla’s presentation at the Hot Chips 2024 symposium in Stanford, California. Tesla shared details about the TTPoE architecture and suggested that TTPoE could offer lower one-way write latency on switches including NVLink. It also announced its participation in the UltraEthernet Consortium (UEC).
You can see some of the slides Tesla shared at ServingTheHomePatrick Kennedy of the site noted: “This is one of those interesting talks, but at some point it would be great if it was used beyond DOJO. It seems like it’s a lot of work to make custom NICs, custom protocols, etc. for a system and not try to benefit from economies of scale. It was great to see Tesla bringing this to the UltraEthernet Consortium.”
