Photo: Edited YouTube screenshot
After stripping radar from the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla did the same with the refreshed Model S and Model X. But are video cameras enough to power the complex Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite? Elon Musk thinks so, although all other carmakers beg to disagree.
Humans don’t need radar to drive a car, argued Elon Musk when he announced the Tesla Vision, a camera-based approach to autonomous driving. This goes in the opposite direction to all other carmakers, which use not only radar but also lidar sensors to map the surroundings for their autonomous driving systems. Instead, Tesla uses the video streams from the eight external cameras on its vehicles to perform semi-autonomous driving functions.
“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person,” Musk said during the Q1 2021 Earnings Call.
The move started last year when Tesla announced all Model 3 and Model Y delivered starting with May 2021 would no longer have radar sensors. It was for the first time that a carmaker forwent the radar sensors for what was believed to be a critical part of any advanced assistance system.
“Beginning with deliveries in May 2021, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built for the North American market will no longer be equipped with radar. Instead, these will be the first Tesla vehicles to rely on camera vision and neural net processing to deliver Autopilot, Full-Self Driving, and certain active safety features,” wrote Tesla on their “Transitioning to Tesla Vision” webpage.
Now, it appears the page has been updated to include the Model S and Model X too. The move started “as of mid-February”, so it’s safe to say all Model S and Model X built for North America are now delivered with Tesla Vision. According to the company, this should not compromise the safety ratings or the availability of active safety features on newer Tesla vehicles.
“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person,” Musk said during the Q1 2021 Earnings Call.
The move started last year when Tesla announced all Model 3 and Model Y delivered starting with May 2021 would no longer have radar sensors. It was for the first time that a carmaker forwent the radar sensors for what was believed to be a critical part of any advanced assistance system.
“Beginning with deliveries in May 2021, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built for the North American market will no longer be equipped with radar. Instead, these will be the first Tesla vehicles to rely on camera vision and neural net processing to deliver Autopilot, Full-Self Driving, and certain active safety features,” wrote Tesla on their “Transitioning to Tesla Vision” webpage.
Now, it appears the page has been updated to include the Model S and Model X too. The move started “as of mid-February”, so it’s safe to say all Model S and Model X built for North America are now delivered with Tesla Vision. According to the company, this should not compromise the safety ratings or the availability of active safety features on newer Tesla vehicles.
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