Tesla is removing ultrasonic sensors from all of its vehicles

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RNHurt

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I'm thinking about all the times I pull into a parking spot and get warnings about how close I am to the car in front of me. I'm not sure the forward facing camera can see the same view as the bumper USSs.

On the flip side, maybe we'll finally get the overhead view that [most] every other automaker offers. 😁
 

OxBrew

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Oct 5, 2022
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This is a joke right?

Sorry, seriously, why not wait to remove the sensors until all the functionality works?

I work in hardware engineering, if a PM on a project suggested anything like this, they'd take heat from above and below and immediately back down.

This is not a serious car company.

If all future Teslas have yokes and missing functionality, I'm not getting another one. I love my 9/21 build model Y, perhaps it was the peak of the best configuration.
 
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Tron

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This is unfortunate.

I like the idea of a FSD car having far more sensors than I have.

Lidar, radar, USS, cameras, etc. Our eyes and brain are easily tricked. Having additional sensors to disambiguate conflicting or confusing information seems like the best route.

I like my car's ability to tell me that I'm 14 inches from the tool box in the back of the garage.
 

kevmark58

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I’m deeply concerned about the loss of these sensors, both radar and ultrasonic. Cameras CANNOT be relied on 100% of the time. My model x cameras fail anytime the sun shines directly on the lenses. They fail when it’s raining as they’re covered in drops of water that doesn’t clear away, resulting in nothing but a blurry image for miles at a time. If the cameras can’t see, then how can they judge distance? Engage emergency braking? Steer the car? They can’t. I bought my X because it had multiple redundancy sensors that made me feel safe and secure that the software had lots of available data to make decisions. Now I feel they’re cheapening the car and removing sensors I paid for and do not want turned off.
 

teslennon

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I'm thinking about all the times I pull into a parking spot and get warnings about how close I am to the car in front of me. I'm not sure the forward facing camera can see the same view as the bumper USSs.

On the flip side, maybe we'll finally get the overhead view that [most] every other automaker offers. 😁
Could it be possible that Tesla will maybe add a bumper/grill camera for these situations?
 

Alain74

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Beginning in October 2022, Tesla will no longer be building vehicles with ultrasonic sensors (USS). This comes after the automotive company announced it was rem… Read More
Just wonder how we will be able to manage car parking with obstacles (wall, sidewalk, etc.) without USS knowing that the cameras cannot see or view anything below and in front of the front bumper.
Is this really the future of Tesla or a back to the 70's for a so called technology car? Curious about your comments... Without a bird view (despite 6 cameras!!!), how this Tesla FSD engineering team can remove USS without an alternative solution?
Do they really drive a Tesla on a daily basis in all car parking areas? not sure ...
 

Pixel

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Could it be possible that Tesla will maybe add a bumper/grill camera for these situations?
Considering that, despite any claims of "improvements", this is just another cost-cutting measure, I very much doubt that.

Also, good luck to anyone getting into any sort of accident with a USS-equipped vehicle and needing a new bumper cover. Tesla's notoriously bad about providing spare/replacement parts already....that ain't gonna improve if the part you need isn't even produced for new vehicles anymore.

Gonna be interesting to see if they turn the sensors off for everyone who has them, too, like they did with the radar. Which made damn-all improvement, the car still regularly freaks out and brakes for no reason. Gotta love driving around with functionless e-waste.
 

Alain74

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Considering that, despite any claims of "improvements", this is just another cost-cutting measure, I very much doubt that.

Also, good luck to anyone getting into any sort of accident with a USS-equipped vehicle and needing a new bumper cover. Tesla's notoriously bad about providing spare/replacement parts already....that ain't gonna improve if the part you need isn't even produced for new vehicles anymore.

Gonna be interesting to see if they turn the sensors off for everyone who has them, too, like they did with the radar. Which made damn-all improvement, the car still regularly freaks out and brakes for no reason. Gotta love driving around with functionless e-waste.
Well! radar has been switched off since the last update but frankly speaking, the camera is now much more precise and when using autopilot (the one coming with the car with no additional fees) detection of objects, forms, cars , trucks, pedestrian and cyclists, etc. is really impressive and efficient (TMY LR 2022).
Maybe a bit too precautionary (car is braking strongly even though pedestrian is on the sidewalk but very close to the road, or a cyclist too close to the road when riding, etc. and with the new update, no more "ghost braking" (even though we can still have some under certain circumstances with sun creating shadows on the road...
 

RNHurt

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Well! radar has been switched off since the last update but frankly speaking, the camera is now much more precise and when using autopilot (the one coming with the car with no additional fees) detection of objects, forms, cars , trucks, pedestrian and cyclists, etc. is really impressive and efficient (TMY LR 2022).
Maybe a bit too precautionary (car is braking strongly even though pedestrian is on the sidewalk but very close to the road, or a cyclist too close to the road when riding, etc. and with the new update, no more "ghost braking" (even though we can still have some under certain circumstances with sun creating shadows on the road...
I just got back from a 1,000 mile trip with my 2020 LR MY and it only "ghost braked" a couple of times. One specifically when the shadow from an overpass was over the road in front of me. At least I think that's what the problem was. 🤷‍♂️

Overall, it was pretty impressive and I never even noticed that (or thought about) my radar not being used. (y)
 

Vroomba2

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I'm gonna be concerned about obstacles too low for the cameras to see.
This is my concern. Other vehicles have a camera on the windshield AND on the front nose. I wonder if a camera on the nose will be coming to new models too. That would definitely capture anything low, like curbs etc.

Also, I wonder if we'll ever get rear traffic monitoring. When backing out of a parking spot and you can't see behind the Escalade parked next to you, it would be nice if the car auto braked if it detected a car or someone walking behind you. I rented a Tahoe last year and that feature was something that really worked well.
 
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SteveWin1

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OK, so reading these comments, I think it'll probably be less-bad than everyone is assuming. Except when the car is first manufactured, things that are close to it have to get there somehow. So lets say you pull up to a tall curb. The Tesla can see the curb as you approach, but then it falls out of view of the front cameras. It still knows where that curb was and, using wheel angle and rotation counting and (to a lesser degree) GPS, the car could theoretically keep very precise track of where it is in relation to things it can no longer see. Same goes for your garage wall. As you pull in, it can use visual cues to figure out how far all the objects are and as you back up, it knows how far its gone and in which direction. It should still be able to tell you how many feet you are from different objects in different directions. If you move something when the car is off and you don't have sentry activated, I guess it probably wouldn't know about those when you go to pull out, but generally we all use those distances when we're pulling in, not really when we're leaving. I'm sure it will be a long time before they get all that worked out and I'd agree this is a parts supply and cost-cutting issue and is definitely not being done to improve things. If they were only concerned about improving the quality of their features, they wouldn't remove hardware until the vision-only version was better than the ultrasound version...which honestly will probably never happen. The radar situation sucks. My car used to be able to tell me if there was a car in front of the car in front of me by bouncing the radar under the car in front of me. Since they disabled my radar, it can no longer do that. It also definitely has more phantom braking issues since disabling the radar. So that was also BS. I will give them that the vision-only driving is now pretty close to how good it used to be with the radar and I'll bet they'll be able to do something similar with the ultrasonics.
 
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PrescottAZRichard

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This is unfortunate.

I like the idea of a FSD car having far more sensors than I have.

Lidar, radar, USS, cameras, etc. Our eyes and brain are easily tricked. Having additional sensors to disambiguate conflicting or confusing information seems like the best route.

I like my car's ability to tell me that I'm 14 inches from the tool box in the back of the garage.

The cars have 8 cameras and aren't distracted by joggers in tight clothes. I think that's better than human vision :p .
Radar isn't as good as you prolly think it is (IMO). LIDAR could be good for giving distance info that our binocular vision gives us but more precisely. I think the USS being used while driving are redundant at this point, for parking they haven't been replaced and that's a problem (again IMO). That has removed a feature for the time being.
 
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PrescottAZRichard

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This is a joke right?

Sorry, seriously, why not wait to remove the sensors until all the functionality works?

I work in hardware engineering, if a PM on a project suggested anything like this, they'd take heat from above and below and immediately back down.

This is not a serious car company.

If all future Teslas have yokes and missing functionality, I'm not getting another one. I love my 9/21 build model Y, perhaps it was the peak of the best configuration.
I agree about removing without replacing with a tech on par. My guess is the hardware part was set anticipating the software being done and it wasn't? Complete guess.

That makes me wonder- can people with FSD / EAP and no USS do auto park?
 
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SteveWin1

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I agree about removing without replacing with a tech on par. My guess is the hardware part was set anticipating the software being done and it wasn't? Complete guess.

That makes me wonder- can people with FSD / EAP and no USS do auto park?
No, there is a whole list of features that are not available to cars that are currently rolling out due to the lack of ultrasonic sensors. Autopark was definitely on that list. Regular summon and smart summon were also on there.
 

Winsley2

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Why did Tesla remove the USS which is a standard feature on every other car on the market? As others have said, old technology that works should not be removed until the new technology is proven. I bought my car in Oct 2022, took delivery in Dec 2022 an had no choice but accept that USS was not fitted, and so auto parking is not available - ie not what i paid for. When will USS be retrofitted or the promised visual system be operational?
 

Lcsglvr

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Why did Tesla remove the USS which is a standard feature on every other car on the market? As others have said, old technology that works should not be removed until the new technology is proven. I bought my car in Oct 2022, took delivery in Dec 2022 an had no choice but accept that USS was not fitted, and so auto parking is not available - ie not what i paid for. When will USS be retrofitted or the promised visual system be operational?
Agreed. I had no option and thought the autopark, summon etc would be included in fsd, of which I paid. Very disappointed still. I live in the city so fsd for me hasn't been a waste completely as some say. It has more eyes on the city than I do, so it has lived up to that to a degree at least
 

Mikymoto

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We handled already 2 catastrophic accidents in the last 20 days, and another accident collision against an emergency vehicle. Apparently the cameras are susceptible to strobe lights, sun, etc. I personally thing that this car should be recalled appropriately and force Musk to stop pushing or removing things for cars that are not his anymore.. Removing the radar capabilities from cars that already had it... Is insane management behaviour. If you have a Tesla, you better get good insurance because the moment you crash and killed somebody if it is your fault, you will lose the house, and everything you own.depending on which state you are. This is no joke, be aware that crashes are increasing, and we see them every week. - Disclaimer: I am not an attorney nor an auto insurance broker, and this is not legal advise. - However, I work for attorneys at a call center.. Take cate guys.