Tesla Vision Park Assist: Bringing Back Distance Measurements for Cars without Ultrasonic Sensors

Tesla restores Park Assist using vision for vehicles without ultrasonic sensors

Tesla

Tesla has taken another significant step forward in its commitment to vision-based technology by introducing Tesla Vision Park Assist. This new feature reinstates the Park Assist distance measurements for Tesla vehicles without ultrasonic sensors (USS).

In October 2022, Tesla removed USS from Model 3, Model Y, and later, Model S and Model X, as part of the shift to its camera-based Autopilot system, Tesla Vision. However, the accompanying software to measure distances to nearby objects wasn't ready at the time, leaving owners of cars without USS to estimate their distance to surrounding things while parking.

The Latest Update Gets Even Bigger

The wait for a solution is finally over with the release of software version 2022.45.11, which includes the latest FSD Beta v11.3.2. As confirmed by well-known Tesla hacker @greentheonly, Tesla Vision Park Assist has been added to this update for vehicles without USS.

Improvements Over Ultrasonic Sensors

Although Tesla's vision-based approach is expected to not be as accurate as having ultrasonic sensors, at least initially, it does offer one improvement for the hardware-based solution.

The vision-based Park Assist system not only measures distances to objects at the front and rear of the car but also detects objects on the sides where there is no USS, providing 360° coverage around the vehicle.

It's not clear whether Tesla plans to add vision-based object detection to the sides of vehicles that have ultrasonic sensors in a future update.

The current release is limited to cars testing FSD Beta without USS, while vehicles with USS continue to operate with their sensors enabled. Although it might take some time for the feature to be deployed fleet-wide, Tesla Vision Park Assist demonstrates Tesla's progress in refining vision-based technology for parking assistance.

Who Will Get It

According to @greentheonly, the new Park Assist system is currently only available to customers in the United States and Canada who have purchased FSD and applied for access to the FSD Beta program. It is also currently limited to the Model 3 and Model Y. However, with visual and audio alerts of surrounding objects and the use of the occupancy network to predict high-definition outlines of objects around the vehicle, the vision-based system could eventually prove superior to Tesla's previous USS-based solution.

The release notes for Park Assist in 2022.45.11 state:

Tesla Vision Park Assist provides visual and audio alerts of surrounding objects. This feature uses the occupancy network to predict high-definition outlines of objects 360 degrees around the car.

Note: Tesla Vision Park Assist is for guidance purposes only and is not a substitute for an aware driver. Please be attentive and avoid obstacles as required.

Last year, Tesla's shift to a vision-only approach resulted in temporarily limiting or disabling some features, such as Summon, Smart Summon, Autopark, and Park Assist. Park Assist, which alerts drivers to nearby objects when traveling at less than five mph, appeared to be the easiest to implement. Now that Tesla has released Park Assist for vision-only vehicles, it is likely that Autopark, Summon, and Smart Summon will follow suit for Teslas without ultrasonic sensors in due course.

With Tesla Vision Park Assist, Tesla owners without ultrasonic sensors can now enjoy improved parking assistance, making it easier and safer to navigate tight parking spaces. As the feature continues to roll out and improve, Tesla demonstrates its dedication to advancing its vision-based technology for the benefit of its customers.

Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Is Tesla Close to Licensing FSD? GM Quits Cruise, BMW Praises Tesla

Not a Tesla App

In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.

GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.

End of Cruise

GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.

Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.

Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019. 

Competition is Killer

Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.

Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.

GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy

As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.

NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.

“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2024

With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.

In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection. 

The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.

Others Impressed - Licensing FSD

Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next. 

BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!

Not a Tesla App

It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.

There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.

Follow

Follow

Follow