Photo: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Tesla doubled down on Tesla Vision by removing ultrasonic sensors from its vehicles a month ago. Some functionality was lost, but Tesla intends to offer the same features using the cameras around the car. According to Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the latest 2022.40.4 software update brings back distance measurements to Tesla vehicles.
Tesla declared war on any means of sensing the surroundings that are not available to humans. The rationale behind this decision was that human drivers only have eyes to drive, so a car should be okay with just video cameras. This “vision” saw the demise of the radar sensors a while back, while LiDAR sensors were not even considered. A month ago, ultrasonic sensors had to go, all in the name of cutting costs.
These are the coin-sized sensors in the front and rear bumpers that help with parking modern cars. Even the cheapest models have them, and aftermarket solutions are dirt-cheap as well. On the other hand, Tesla thinks they are redundant, and cameras can replace them just as they replaced radar sensors. Until then, features like Autopark, Park Assist, and Smart Summon are unavailable.
Although Tesla thinks otherwise, the camera approach has limitations. Unless new cameras are placed in front of the car, there is a huge blind zone right there. Nevertheless, according to Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the 2022.40.4 software update has an interesting feature, allowing cars without ultrasonic sensors (USS) to offer distance measurements to nearby objects. The feature comes thanks to the Autopilot software.
The update has yet to reach a significant number of Tesla vehicles without ultrasonic sensors, so it’s too early to know whether Tesla Vision alone can measure the distance to obstacles down to the inch (or centimeter) as ultrasonic sensors did. Green says that software code suggests that the distance estimates are “created to mimic the actual USS sensor including the locations: front-middle, front-right, front-middle-right, and so on.”
Nevertheless, it’s still unclear how Tesla Vision could measure the distance to objects that it cannot see, being in the huge blind zone in front of the car. There are speculations that those objects were at some point in the camera’s field of view, and the system will keep that in memory as humans would.
We can only speculate until the update reaches more cars without ultrasonic sensors. If you have a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y without USS and with the 2022.40.4 update, we’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below or by accessing our tips section.
These are the coin-sized sensors in the front and rear bumpers that help with parking modern cars. Even the cheapest models have them, and aftermarket solutions are dirt-cheap as well. On the other hand, Tesla thinks they are redundant, and cameras can replace them just as they replaced radar sensors. Until then, features like Autopark, Park Assist, and Smart Summon are unavailable.
Although Tesla thinks otherwise, the camera approach has limitations. Unless new cameras are placed in front of the car, there is a huge blind zone right there. Nevertheless, according to Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the 2022.40.4 software update has an interesting feature, allowing cars without ultrasonic sensors (USS) to offer distance measurements to nearby objects. The feature comes thanks to the Autopilot software.
The update has yet to reach a significant number of Tesla vehicles without ultrasonic sensors, so it’s too early to know whether Tesla Vision alone can measure the distance to obstacles down to the inch (or centimeter) as ultrasonic sensors did. Green says that software code suggests that the distance estimates are “created to mimic the actual USS sensor including the locations: front-middle, front-right, front-middle-right, and so on.”
Nevertheless, it’s still unclear how Tesla Vision could measure the distance to objects that it cannot see, being in the huge blind zone in front of the car. There are speculations that those objects were at some point in the camera’s field of view, and the system will keep that in memory as humans would.
We can only speculate until the update reaches more cars without ultrasonic sensors. If you have a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y without USS and with the 2022.40.4 update, we’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below or by accessing our tips section.
2022.40.4 merges no-ultrasonics code into "mainline", now receives parking distances from autopilot (where not equipped with proper ultrasonics)
— green (@greentheonly) November 2, 2022
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