Tesla announced on Tuesday that it will abandon radar in driving assistance functions including Autopilot.
Editor’s note: This article is from Tencent Technology, compiled: Wuji.
On May 26th, Tesla announced on Tuesday that it will abandon radar in driving assistance functions including Autopilot.
The company stated in its official blog that starting this month, the best-selling Model 3 and Model Y manufactured for customers in the United States and Canada will be equipped with a camera-based system to enable Autopilot’s traffic adjustment cruise control or automatic lanes. Keep other functions.
Radar sensors are relatively expensive, and processing data from them requires a lot of computing power in the vehicle. Tesla has previously told shareholders that it believes that “fully autonomous driving ultimately only requires a pure vision system” and plans to shift the US market to Tesla Vision. The company’s CEO Elon Musk also stated in a tweet on March 12 that the company will switch to a “pure visual” approach.
Tesla stated that this will be Tesla’s first batch of electric vehicles that rely on camera vision and neural network processing to provide “Autopilot, Full-Self Driving and specific active safety features.” The company also warned that Autopilot and fully automated driving will not be as useful or powerful during the technical adjustment period.
“In a short period of time during the transition period, electric vehicles equipped with Tesla’s vision solution may provide some temporarily restricted or inactive features, including: Autosteer will be limited to 75 miles (approximately (Approximately 121 kilometers)/hour maximum speed and longer minimum following distance. At delivery, smart call (if equipped) and emergency lane departure avoidance may be disabled,” Tesla said. The company also stated that customers who have ordered Model 3 or Model Y but are not aware of this modification will be notified before accepting delivery of the vehicle. All new Tesla electric vehicles include the standard advanced driver assistance feature Autopilot.
Tesla also sells an advanced software package priced at $10,000, called “Fully Automated Driving” (FSD). Tesla allowed some drivers to get the beta version of “fully autonomous driving” in advance-effectively turning thousands of customers into software testers on public roads in the United States.
According to the company’s website, Autopilot currently enables Tesla electric vehicles to “automatically steer, accelerate, and brake in their lanes,” and “fully autonomous driving” adds features such as automatic lane changing and calling. Summoning enables drivers to use the Tesla app like a remote control to call their car through the parking lot to pick them up.
Tesla is in itsThe user manual and website warn that Autopilot and fully automated driving require active supervision. But some Tesla owners mistakenly believe that Tesla is safe to operate without hands. They will sleep on the steering wheel or even sit behind the car.
A Tesla owner posted a video on social media of himself using the autopilot without holding the steering wheel. He was killed in a fatal collision in Southern California earlier this month. Another car owner was arrested by the California Highway Patrol for taking his Tesla for an unsafe drive. During this time, he sat in the back seat and let the Tesla electric car drive on public highways without a driver.
The vast majority use radar and lidar
Other automakers have adopted different strategies in the development, promotion and marketing of autonomous driving systems. GM’s Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo, Aurora and other companies include radar and lidar as well as cameras.
Although the video captured by the camera can be tagged by a human data analyst and interpreted by machine learning software, radar and lidar sensors provide additional data that can provide a more robust method for cars to detect and Avoid obstacles on the road–especially when visibility is low, including at night or in bad weather.
Musk previously compared lidar to a “crutch” and a “futility errand”, saying it was too expensive and difficult to use. But he has not completely given up on radar.
Tesla intends to retain radar in the higher-cost Model S and Model X, Model 3 and Model Y made in China, or electric vehicles sold to markets outside of North America. Phil Koopman, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and chief technology officer of Edge Case Research, said that Tesla should be able to provide some functions through vision today, but it may need to be renewed at a later date. Introduce radar to provide more advanced automatic functions. “The sensors used by SAE Level 2 (the driver who always monitors safety) are at the discretion of the manufacturer. It is noted that humans are responsible for handling anything that the camera cannot handle, so they may only provide at least some functions for the camera,” Koopman Say.
“Tesla’s functions are currently limited to this SAE level 2. If Tesla hopes to achieve SAE level 4 in the future (autonomous driving vehicles with unmanned safety supervision-currently does not have this capability) It’s wise to use every type of sensor they can get, including cameras, radar, lidar, and possibly other sensors,” he said.
The following is the full text of Tesla’s official blog:
We are continuing to transition to the camera-based Autopilot system-Tesla’s vision solution. Starting from delivery in May 2021, Model 3 and Model Y manufactured for the North American market will no longer be equipped with radar. On the contrary, this will be the first Tesla electric vehicle to rely on camera vision and neural network processing to provide Autopilot, fully automated driving and specific active safety features. Customers who ordered and matched Tesla Vision before May 2021 will be notified of the change through their Tesla account before delivery.
In a short period of time during the transition period, electric vehicles equipped with Tesla Vision may provide some temporarily restricted or ineffective functions, including:
–Automatic assisted steering will be limited to a maximum speed of 75 miles (approximately 121 kilometers) per hour and a longer minimum following distance.
–Smart call (if equipped) and emergency lane departure avoidance may be disabled.
In the next few weeks, we will restore these features through a series of over-the-air (OTA) updates. All other available Autopilot and fully automated driving features will be activated upon delivery, depending on the order configuration.
All new Model S and Model X, Model 3 and Model Y made in China, or electric vehicles sold to markets outside North America will retain the radar and will have the Autopilot function supported by the radar until we determine the appropriate time for these vehicles Transition to Tesla’s vision program.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my car is equipped with radar?
Starting from May 2021, Model 3 and Model Y delivered to the North American market will be optimized for Tesla’s vision solution and will no longer be equipped with radar. If you ordered an electric car before May and it matches an electric car that is not equipped with radar, you will be notified of a change in your Tesla account before delivery.
Why are Model S and Model X not adjusted at present?
Model 3 and Model Y are currently producing higher volumes. They first adopted the Tesla vision solution, which enabled us to analyze a large amount of real-world data in a short period of time, and finally accelerated the launch of Tesla vision-based functions.