Model 3 has only seven Autopilot cameras?! (vs. eight)

[ahmadr]

"Seven cameras, forward radar and twelve ultrasonic sensors"
-- Monroney Sticker posted at teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/2288342/

"All Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, have the hardware... Eight surround cameras..."
-- www.tesla.com/autopilot

What do you think? Is the 7 camera line a goof-up, or a cost reduction on the Model 3?

 

[lunitiks]

6 + driver facing cam? But what's missing?

No this must be a typo

 

[diamond.g]

Maybe they are not counting the reverse camera?

 

[Zaphod]

"Seven cameras, forward radar and twelve ultrasonic sensors"
-- Monroney Sticker posted at teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/2288342/

"All Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, have the hardware... Eight surround cameras..."
-- www.tesla.com/autopilot

What do you think? Is the 7 camera line a goof-up, or a cost reduction on the Model 3?

I assume they are just not counting the rear backup camera. One camera would not add much cost, so highly unlikely as cost saving measure.

 

[Derek Kessler]

It's 7 + the reverse camera, which is counted separately due to being a specific required safety feature.

 

[BluestarE3]

Third option needed for poll: "Reverse camera not counted"

 

[North75]

Alex at Everything Tesla had a video up earlier on Youtube (that has since been removed apparently) where he gave his impressions after getting to go to an employee Model 3 test drive event as a guest.
He mentioned that the rear view camera on the Model 3 was much lower quality than the one on the Model S or X. He was guessing it was maybe 720P resolution. He also stated that it had much more of a fish eye effect. He listed it as one of the few things that was better about the S and X.
Perhaps they are not using the rear camera in autopilot on the 3 for some reason or other.

 

[chillaban]

I don't really understand the point of the rear backup camera as a part of the sensor suite… What's going on directly behind you is rarely of concern in traffic and rarely something you can control either (sure, if you want some sort of fancy rear-end-avoidance maneuvering support)

It's possibly more useful for the purpose of autoparking the car but I have a feeling they can make do with the side repeater cameras.

 

[chronopc]

I don't really understand the point of the rear backup camera as a part of the sensor suite… What's going on directly behind you is rarely of concern in traffic and rarely something you can control either (sure, if you want some sort of fancy rear-end-avoidance maneuvering support)

It's possibly more useful for the purpose of autoparking the car but I have a feeling they can make do with the side repeater cameras.

I can see some useful applications or rear sensors. If the computer thinks you're about to be rear ended it can accelerate and dodge the collision.

 

[chillaban]

I can see some useful applications or rear sensors. If the computer thinks you're about to be rear ended it can accelerate and dodge the collision.

That's one of the ones I mentioned too. But that's like thinking of extra credit when you're on homework problem 2 out of 50 and it's due yesterday….

I don't think it's critical to any of the EAP or FSD features officially described, which already sounds like too much for Tesla to handle now. The other cameras are far more critical to activate.

 

[chronopc]

That's one of the ones I mentioned too. But that's like thinking of extra credit when you're on homework problem 2 out of 50 and it's due yesterday….

I don't think it's critical to any of the EAP or FSD features officially described, which already sounds like too much for Tesla to handle now. The other cameras are far more critical to activate.

I think their approach is to install all of the necessary hardware and work on the software later. I mean software is the difficult part. Cameras are dirt cheap.

 

[chillaban]

I think their approach is to install all of the necessary hardware and work on the software later. I mean software is the difficult part. Cameras are dirt cheap.

Sure, I just mean with regards to this thread, 7 vs 8 cameras doesn't seem significant to me. Heck, EAP right now is only using 2 cameras, so we still have a ways to go before we worry about whether or not the lack of the rear camera's participation has ANY impact on EAP/FSD features.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Perhaps the driver-facing camera?

 

[chronopc]

Sure, I just mean with regards to this thread, 7 vs 8 cameras doesn't seem significant to me. Heck, EAP right now is only using 2 cameras, so we still have a ways to go before we worry about whether or not the lack of the rear camera's participation has ANY impact on EAP/FSD features.

Yep 1 camera doesn't matter. LIDAR would but that way too expensive right now.

 

[chillaban]

Yep 1 camera doesn't matter. LIDAR would but that way too expensive right now.

Not just LIDAR, but more sensors in general. There's many vendors (not just MobileEye) that provide camera-based adaptive cruise control / lane recognition systems that could run in parallel. Blind spot radar on the 4 corners of the car could make lane changes far easier to solve without the side cameras, not to mention increase confidence in radar readings. And all of those sensors could be used in parallel to train Tesla's cameras, and then they can simply stop building with those sensors once they are truly confident in their hardware.

It's definitely a save-money-at-expense-of-timeline decision at this point. I don't fault them for doing it, but I also feel impatient as a customer waiting for cool features to arrive

 

[chronopc]

Not just LIDAR, but more sensors in general. There's many vendors (not just MobileEye) that provide camera-based adaptive cruise control / lane recognition systems that could run in parallel. Blind spot radar on the 4 corners of the car could make lane changes far easier to solve without the side cameras, not to mention increase confidence in radar readings. And all of those sensors could be used in parallel to train Tesla's cameras, and then they can simply stop building with those sensors once they are truly confident in their hardware.

It's definitely a save-money-at-expense-of-timeline decision at this point. I don't fault them for doing it, but I also feel impatient as a customer waiting for cool features to arrive

It's all about compromise when it comes to building a car. Sure you can add more tech but that will increase the price. That's why when I see demo cars fully able to drive itself I don't really care. Because if you throw millions of dollars at it, you can get a car to do that now. But the challenge is making that technology affordable.

 

[JeffK]

I have a 7.1 surround sound system... it's got eight speakers total.

Tesla also lists eight cameras on their presskit page under the Model 3 details.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I have a 7.1 surround sound system... it's got eight speakers total.

Tesla also lists eight cameras on their presskit page under the Model 3 details.

Indeed....and the 8th speaker is the most important one in a surround system.... in my opinion.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I have a 7.1 surround sound system... it's got eight speakers total.

Tesla also lists eight cameras on their presskit page under the Model 3 details.

.1 is the subwoofer. Its not considered a speaker to hear....but to feel. lol

9 cameras total ( or 8.1 depending on how you consider the inside camera looking at the driver ).

3 behind rearview mirror

2 on front quarter panel

2 on b-pillar

1 backup camera

1 inside ( not used yet ) looking at the driver.

 

[lunitiks]