Tesla Doubles Down on Camera-Based Pure Vision Autopilot Amid Growing Scrutiny

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted to announce the rollout of Pure vision Autopilot in North America.

By Reuters | Updated: 26 May 2021 11:09 IST

Tesla Doubles Down on Camera-Based Pure Vision Autopilot Amid Growing Scrutiny

In October 2020, Tesla rolled out the test version of its new FSD system to a limited number of people

Highlights

Waymo equip autonomous cars with cameras paired with sensors like lidars
Tesla relied on cameras and one radar to detect and analyse objects
A radar sensor uses radio waves and sensors to detect objects

Tesla said on Tuesday it will drop a radar sensor in favour of a camera-focused Autopilot system for its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in North America starting this month.

The move came amid growing scrutiny by regulators and media about the safety of what Tesla dubs "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving (FSD)" features, following a series of crashes.

"Pure vision Autopilot is now rolling out in North America," CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

He said it plans to release an improved "FSD beta V9.0" based on the pure vision system about three weeks later.

"FSD subscription will be enabled around the same time," he said.

In October, Tesla rolled out the test version of its new FSD system to a limited number of people, enabling cars to navigate on city streets in semi-autonomous mode as well as highways. A wider launch has been delayed.

While most companies like Waymo equip autonomous cars with cameras paired with sensors like lidars and radars, Tesla relied on cameras and one radar to detect and analyse objects.

Tesla's approach helped reduce costs and commercialise its driver assistant features, but experts and other companies have raised safety concerns.

Tesla said the transition to a camera-focused system may result in limitations of some features such as lane-centering and parking assistance, saying those functions will be restored via software updates "in the weeks ahead."

All new Model S and Model X cars, as well as all vehicles built for markets outside North America, will still be equipped with a radar, Tesla said.

A radar sensor uses radio waves and sensors to detect objects.

In March, Tesla told California regulators it might not achieve full self-driving technology by the end of 2021.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

It's Google I/O time this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, as we discuss Android 12, Wear OS, and more. Later (starting at 27:29), we jump over to Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder's Netflix zombie heist movie. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.