Tesla Has Started Shipping Cars Without Radar Sensors

One of the methods that carmakers have been using to build self-driving cars would be to include the use of radar sensors. This is used to help detect things like objects that could be in front of the car so that it knows what to do, like slow down, stop, drive around it, and so on, but for Tesla, they will no longer be using it.

Just last month, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said that they would start to remove the radar sensors from its production cars, and now it has been revealed that some of Tesla’s cars for North America, like the Model 3 and Model Y no longer have the sensors built into them. This does not mean that Tesla is giving up on self-driving technology, but rather the company seems to think that relying on cameras would be better.

Back in April, Musk raised an interesting question in which if the radar sensor and cameras were to disagree with each other on the data being picked up, which would you believe? He also points out how cameras are able to collect more bits/sec compared to radar, which could make for more accurate reporting.

Right now, it seems that the removal of radar sensors only applies to the two cars we mentioned above. The company’s more expensive models like the Model S and Model X will still continue to use radar.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Electric Cars, Self-Driving Cars, Social Hit, Tesla