TToPE: Tesla Offers Replacement For TCP, A Fundamental Internet Protocol

Tesla is joining the UltraEthernet Consortium (UEC) and has introduced the Tesla Transport Protocol over Ethernet(TTPoE), a high-speed, low-latency communication protocol designed to replace the traditional Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in various industries, including automotive, industrial automation, and data centers. TTPoE is optimized for efficient data transmission across Ethernet networks using standard Layer 2 transport, making it a scalable and versatile solution.

TCP is one of the fundamental protocols in the Internet Protocol Suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, designed to provide reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of bytes between applications running on hosts communicating via an IP network.

Tesla's Exascale DOJO supercomputer will use TTPoE instead of TCP. Key features of TTPoE, the company says, allow it to meet the growing data demands of modern electric vehicles, including those needed for autonomous driving and over-the-air updates.

Following are the key features and advantages of TTPoE as reportedly presented by Tesla at the Hot Chips 2024 symposium in Stanford, California, USA, where the company also announced its participation in the UEC.

• Low Latency: TTPoE is designed to reduce latency, making it particularly suitable for applications requiring real-time data processing, such as autonomous driving and AI workloads.

• Hardware Execution: Unlike TCP, which relies on software implementation, TTPoE is executed entirely in hardware, eliminating the need for specialized switches -- instead, using standard Layer 2 transport -- allowing it to operate on standard Ethernet infrastructure.

• Improved Packet Loss and Retransmission: Unlike lossless RDMA networks, TTPoE anticipates packet loss and includes mechanisms to retry transmissions, making it more efficient than traditional protocols like TCP/IP or UDP in environments where reliable data transfer is crucial.

• Enhanced Security: TTPoE includes features like encryption and authentication, ensuring secure data transmission in applications such as automotive and industrial automation where managing large data sets securely and efficiently is essential.

• Scalability: TTPoE supports scalability, essential for modern electric vehicles requiring large data sets for autonomous driving and over-the-air updates.

Tesla also reportedly suggested that TTPoE could offer lower one-way write latency over switches, including NVLink.

TTPoE offers a promising alternative addressing the limitations of traditional TCP. However Tesla has its work cut out for it in pushing for wider adoption of the protocol.