Tesla Is Preparing a Major Software Update Dedicated to Improving Vision Features

There's an old saying that one should not put the carriage in front of the horses. If I am to apply this to Tesla, Elon Musk did just that when he decided to remove ultrasonic sensors from the cars and use Tesla Vision instead. More than one year after the sensors were removed, Tesla Vision is still unable to offer the functions removed on non-USS cars.

This is not the first time Tesla has taken away a perfectly functional feature with the promise that something better will one day replace it. It did the same with the radar sensors. Fortunately, the radar proved a lot easier to replace because the cameras are perfectly capable of "seeing" far enough in front of the vehicle. It's a different thing with the removal of ultrasonic sensors. The existing cameras can't see immediately in front of the car (or at the rear), leaving a huge blind spot where everything can happen without being detected by Tesla Vision.

Tesla played it safe by removing all the functionalities that relied on ultrasonic sensors and were not yet offered by Tesla Vision. In the beginning, this meant that anything, from distance measurements and Park Assist to Smart Summon and Auto Park, disappeared. In March, distance measurement returned for cars without ultrasonic sensors. Although it works pretty well in most situations, it can also lead to scratches and damage to both vehicles and properties when the distance is not estimated correctly.

Support for Hardware 4 vehicles came a little later, in June, but that didn't help one of the biggest Tesla fans from scratching his brand-new Model S. Omar (@WholeMarsBlog) was pulling out of the garage earlier this month when Tesla Vision failed, causing a modest but painful mark on his front spoiler. He warned other Vision-only Tesla owners about the issue and encouraged the Tesla team to "work hard to improve vision park assist as soon as possible."

It's not only park assist and distance measurement affected by the poor Tesla Vision sight. In the case of the Model X, Tesla also removed ultrasonic sensors that provided distance measurement for door opening. Typically, the doors of the Model X and Model S "auto-present themselves," that is, they open automatically when you approach the vehicle and also close when you press the brake pedal.

For cars without ultrasonic sensors, the front door only opens 10 degrees, and you must pull it open by hand. Due to Tesla Vision's reduced accuracy, this limitation was necessary to prevent the doors from hitting a nearby obstacle. Although Tesla promised that Vision would offer similar functionality to ultrasonic sensors, this is still not true for some functions. The results are mixed even for the features that work, such as Park Assist.

If a new report proves accurate, Tesla will significantly improve its Vision-based features. According to Not a Tesla App, a Service Center representative told a Model X owner that the EV maker is preparing a software update dedicated to improving Tesla Vision. The upcoming update should allow the doors of the Model X to open wider, ideally as wide as on USS vehicles.

Besides the doors, the Tesla Vision improvements are expected to offer more accurate distance measurements for parking maneuvers. With the new update, there are high hopes that Smart Summon and Auto Park will also be offered on non-USS vehicles. Finger crossed.