Many modern electric car manufacturers are currently showing a tendency to fit more and more sensors into their cars so that they can be assisted as safely as possible or even drive autonomously – after cameras and radar, lidar could soon become a kind of standard equipment. But Tesla is going in the opposite direction: “See only” has been the slogan since the spring of 2021, and after gradually removing the radar from all models, it was announced at the beginning of October that the same would happen with ultrasonic sensors. Now the first simplified Model 3 and Model Y models have been delivered – and they don’t get excited.
Tesla is canceling ultrasound almost all over the world
Tesla had already announced at the beginning of October that this would happen. From this point on, the Model 3 and Model Y produced for North America, Europe, the Middle East and Taiwan (i.e. not for China) will not be equipped with ultrasound, according to the announcement. For a “short” period, this means that some of the previously available features of the autopilot system will not be available. Specifically, Tesla called parking assistance, parking, and smart recall and recall—the last three of these convenience functions are part of the EAP or FSD surcharge options.
Before the first deliveries, there was still hope that Tesla would give the Model 3 and the Model Y (deleting ultrasounds for the Model S and Model X to follow in 2023) to make up for better cameras or get more previous ones with software. However, I was disappointed at first. On the heavy American reddit forum, a customer reported last week that he received the Model 3 without the ultrasound — and without any parking support. Almost the same news came this week of the Model Y being produced and delivered in Germany.
The software can still be updated – according to TYLR member of the German forum TFF, his Model Y delivered on Tuesday has the 2022.28.300 version, and the vehicles delivered for longer are already 2022.36 and higher. However, for now, according to TYLR, its Model Y from the German factory Tesla looks like this: “I would say that there is currently no parking assistant with warning noises or via cameras. Apart from the streaked camera image White, I didn’t notice anything about the parking assistant.”
Autopilot restriction due to radar waivers
Before the Model 3 and Model Y are delivered without the ultrasound, customers who ordered prior to this transition will need to confirm in their Tesla account that they acknowledged a notice about the temporarily missing features, several reported. So the limitations aren’t really surprising. However, people in the USA and Germany were puzzled as to why Tesla did not improve its software for the first time to the point that the usual convenience functions could also be provided without the deleted sensor. According to the announcement, it is scheduled to be available again “in the near future” with over-the-air updates.
Due to the absence of radar, many autopilot co-pilots were also initially restricted – and unlike previously ultrasound, this sensor was also turned off in vehicles where it was still installed. The maximum speed possible with Autosteer was again raised somewhat by Tesla, but it had not yet reached the level of 150 km / h before the radar abolished.
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