TESLA

Branded vehicles will lose ultrasonic sensors next year

Last year, Tesla announced a major change to its Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles — they are no longer equipped with radar, which can determine distance to obstacles in conditions of limited visibility. The older S and X models have retained this type of sensor, but will also lose short-range ultrasonic sensors next year. For Model 3 and Model Y, a corresponding simplification is planned for this year.

Tesla representatives announced the corresponding plans this week. As with the removal of radars last year, this change is intended to bring the brand's active driver assistance systems closer in their work to the actions of a person who, when driving vehicles, is obliged to rely mainly on visual information. In Tesla's case, the "eyes" of the system will be on-board cameras, and the ultrasonic sensors distributed over the front and rear bumpers will no longer be installed on Model Y and Model 3 during this year, in 2023 the more expensive Model S/X will suffer a similar fate.

This change will limit the functionality of new batch machines. Electric vehicles deprived of ultrasonic sensors will temporarily lose the ability to automatically maneuver into the parking lot and leave that to the owner within line of sight. In the future, these functions will be added, but technically they will no longer be based on signals from ultrasonic sensors. The economic benefit of simplifying the configuration of Tesla's electric vehicles, according to experts, will not be very significant.

Remember that Elon Musk is a staunch opponent of the use of so-called lidars - optical sensors that allow you to determine the distance of objects even in conditions of limited visibility. Many automakers claiming to create complete autopilot systems equip their cars with cameras and lidars, not to mention radars and ultrasonic sensors. The latter have long been used in so-called parking sensors, which avoid collisions with obstacles when maneuvering in tight spaces. Whether Tesla can effectively replace this information channel with a visual one will become clear over time. In Tesla's EV crash statistics, there are already several high-profile incidents where cameras failed to reliably recognize an obstacle due to difficult visibility conditions. Rejecting another type of sensor will definitely add work to the creators of the Tesla software, but that decision must have been seriously influenced by the company's boss himself.

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