Tesla's new High Fidelity Park Assist feature in the holiday update
Tiberionee / EVBaymax
Tesla's 2023 Holiday Update is rolling out to happy customers around the world, and it includes everything we've heard about, from the NHTSA-related changes to FSD Beta 11.4.9, High Fidelity Park Assist, Custom Lock Sounds, and more.
However, the most exciting feature in the update is undoubtedly Tesla's updated Park Assist feature with new visualizations.
This feature provides a 3D reconstruction of the vehicle's surroundings while parking, akin to a 360-degree camera, but with 3D models that are built in real-time.
The system is leveraging Tesla Vision to create the surrounding environment, such as cars, pillars, bikes and other nearby objects. It certainly may not recognize what all the objects are, but it can define its outlines and build a 3D model.
Each 3D model is gray, but changes color the closer the vehicle gets to the object. The objects go from gray to yellow, to orange, and then finally red.
This is the first time we're seeing Tesla render 3D models using vision in a manner that LiDAR would be used.
Since these are actual 3D models, you can even pan and rotate the on-screen models to view them from various angles.
Requirements
Many vehicles are receiving the new Park Assist, however, it's not everyone. Vehicles running hardware 3 and hardware 4.0 are both receiving it, which is good news, but there are some limitations. It’s not particularly clear yet, but it appears that the feature may be limited to Ryzen infotainment units, or it may be rolling out to vehicles without ultrasonic sensors (USS) first.
If it's the latter, then there's no doubt that Tesla will expand this to vehicles with USS at some point in the future.
Future Visualizations
The visualizations provided by Park Assist are surprisingly good and accurate. They appear to be much more accurate than Park Assist has been in the past for vehicles without USS. For those owners, this will be a great enhancement that is not only exciting but useful when parking or getting around tight corners.
From the early videos and images we've seen, the visualizations look fantastic. We may be looking at upcoming FSD Beta visualizations in this new holiday feature.
For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.
Price Increase
The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.
The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series.
The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.
Free Lifetime Supercharging
For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.
There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.
We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.
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.
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.
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