Tesla plans to phase out ultrasonic sensors on its vehicles, transitioning to a vision-based system amid criticism of its Autopilot feature.
Tesla is phasing out ultrasonic sensors on its models
In an announcement Tuesday, the technology company declared it will be anchoring onboard safety and driver-assist features on its ‘Tesla Vision’ system that uses cameras, replicating the way human operators navigate roads using input gained from sight.
“Today, we are taking the next step in Tesla Vision by removing ultrasonic sensors (USS) from the Model 3 and Model Y. We will continue with the rollout with Model 3 and Model Y, globally, over the next few months, followed by Model S and Model X in 2023,” it said.
Tesla has begun removing radar sensors from its vehicles since 2021 due to a global chip shortage, claiming that this resulted in incremental improvements in safety. Chief executive Elon Musk asserted that Tesla vehicles can still be fully autonomous even with just camera arrays but has yet to roll out self-driving taxis.
Tesla vehicles have been involved in a series of crashes despite having the Autopilot feature engaged
The company is facing growing regulatory, legal, and public criticism over its Autopilot feature following a series of crashes involving Tesla vehicles. Current releases use an array of 12 ultrasonic sensors on the vehicle’s front and rear ends, accompanied by short-range sound sensors mainly used for parking and small object detection.
Tesla says that by removing ultrasonic sensors on its upcoming units, customers can expect some features to be disabled, including Park Assist, Autopark, Summon, and Smart Summon. Once the company finds that Tesla Vision performs comparably well, it will restore these features through a series of over-the-air updates, noting that crash safety ratings will not be significantly affected by removing the sensors.
The upcoming Cybertruck reportedly hinted at the removal of the sensors as early as 2019
“Given the incremental improvements already achieved with Tesla Vision, and our roadmap of future Autopilot improvements and abilities, we are confident that this is the best strategy for the future of Autopilot and the safety of our customers,” it added.
Tesla’s removal of the ultrasonic sensors was reportedly hinted at as early as the introduction of the Cybertruck back in 2019, where only a camera lens was visible on the front bumper.
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